
1 








i 

iiiimmj 


imnij 


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




1 


iji 1 


1 1 
i 1 I 


: , „ 


1 




D 


]D 


aam 


73T3 


♦ 




il'.t!KI!i!l!l 





(lass 
Book_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



OldandMew St. LOUIS; 



A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE METROPOLIS OF THE WEST AND SOUTHWEST, 

WITH A REVIEW OF ITS PRESENT GREATNESS AND 

IMMEDIATE PROSPECTS, 



BY 



J 7^ 7V^ ES COX. 

Author of "St. Louis Tluoui^li a Camera." "The Carnival City of the ll'or/d, 

World's Fair," "Our Own Country,'' &c. 




Missouri at the 



ST. LOUIS, 1894: 
PUBLISHHD BY THE AUTHOR. 



iil'\ )!Ii.HT. IH'.M. .rA>IES (OX. 



v.. 



Vj^ 'Vy^^ 






Press of- 



-m^ 



CONTINENTAL PRINTING CO., 
515 North Third Street, 

«-^ST. LOUIS. 









PUBLISHERS' NOTICE . 

THE PUBLICATION of "Old and New St. Louis" has been delayed far beyond 
the wishes of the publishers by the immense amount of work which had to 
be done, not (^nly in securing data concerning the lives and achievements of 
prominent men in the city, but also in having the necessary steel plates made. A large 
number of gentlemen who could not possibly be excluded from a work of this character 
have been absent from the city, and neither photographs nor biographical data could be 
obtained until they returned. The completeness of the work and the unprecedented 
and uniform excellence of tlie plates is ample justification for the delay. 

The introductory and historical chapters have been in print for upwards of a year, 
and since they were written a number of events have taken place which have greatly 
affected the city's standing and its prospects. The financial depression of i8g^ has 
been succeeded by a period of healthy reaction. No city in the United States with- 
stood the panic in such a thoroughly satisfactory manner as St. Louis, which has the 
proud record of no bank failure for a period of nearly nine years. St. Louis generally 
is in a much better condition financially and commercially than it was when the earlier 
chapters of this work were prepared, and it now stands before the world a model of 
financial strength and of conservative progressiveness. 

The largest Union Railroad Station in the world, described in Chapter V., was com- 
pleted during the summer of 1894 and .opened with befitting ceremonies at the com- 
mencement of the fall festi\-ities season. In every respect the depot has pro\-ed to be 
superior to expectation, and the words of praise written in anticipation of the completion 
of the work seem feeble and inadequate in view of the magnificent realization. 

The Planters Hotel, also described as in course of construction, was completed 
shortly after the New Union Station and was opened to the public immediately. Like 
the magnificent structure fourteen blocks farther west, the Planters Hotel — referred to 
in this work as the New Planters House, its exact title not having been determined 
upon until a recent date— far exceeds expectation. It is declared by experts to be one 
of the finest hotels in the world, and in many most important respects it is absolutely 



iv /'r/!/js'///-:A'.s- xor/c/;. 

unsurpassed and indeed unapproached. In the Bio.yraphical Appendix a record will be 
found of the li\'es of some of the men who have given to St. Louis this noble hostelry, 
and more particularlN' should credit be gix-en to Mr. Isaac S. Taylor. This accomplished 
architect not only conceived the unique plan upon which the hotel is constructed, but 
also superintended the work in every detail, preparing special designs on every possible 
opportunity and earning the praise and commendation, not only of the owners of the 
h(jtel, but also of the public generally and of the tra\-eling fraternity. 

The Autumnal Festi\aties Association, whose work is described in Chapter VII., 
having completed its program, went out of existence on October 9, 1894, to be suc- 
ceeded by the Business Men's League, another organization which is justly entitled to 
be included in the list of "aids to progress." The Veiled Prophet made his annual 
visit in October, preceded a few days by King Hotu, who, with his Funny Fellows, 
gave the first of a series of annual da\iight parades. The city's record as a convention 
gathering place has been more than maintained, and the Trans-Mississippi Convention, 
held at the Exposition Building in INo\-ember, brought to the city representative men 
fr()m all the Western States. 

Another event of importance to St. Louis, not referred to at length in the historical 
chapters for obvious reasons, was the launching of the Steamship St. Louis at Philadel- 
phia (^n November 12, 1894. This magnificent steamship, the largest ever constructed 
in America, will carry the American flag between the United States and Europe. As 
soon as work commenced on this vessel, the Bureau of Information of the Autumnal 
Festivities Association entered into C(immunication with Mr. Griscom, president of the 
International Navigation Company, and suggested to him that the ship be named 
"St. Louis," in honor of the great metr(^polis of the West and Southwest. The sugges- 
tion was favorably entertained, and subsequently a meeting was called at the mayor's 
office which resulted in a committee being appointed to \-isit Philadelphia. On their 
arrival at the City of Brotherly Lo\e the committee found that tlie request already made 
to President Grisci^n had been complied with. It accordingly pledged the city to make 
a suitable presentation to the ship in recognition of the courtesy extended. A large 
party of St. Louisans went to Philadelphia to be present at the launching, and when the 
great ship commenced to glide gracefully into the water, Mrs. Clewland broke a bottle 
of St. Louis champagne upon it and christened it in due form. 

During 1894 a practical test has been made of the new water-works, which come 
up to every expectatit)n. The street car equipment of the cit\' has also been \'astly 



PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. V 

improved. The table of milea.ye given on page 77 does not now represent the actual 
mileage of St. Louis street railways. Thus the Union Depot system, wliich is credited 
with tlfty-five miles of track, has now seventy-six miles. The most important addition 
to its service has been the Grand Avenue division, the work on which is now nearly 
complete, and which will provide a most important north and south road. The Lindell 
company has increased its mileage from forty-one to tlfty-hve miles. The most impor- 
tant addition to its service has been the Compton Heights division, with a total mileage 
of eleven. This line .connects the Eads Bridge and the new Union Station with a dis- 
trict in the southwest which is very thickly populated. The Bad^ Railway Company 
has ceased to exist, and the old horse-car line has been replaced by a double-track 
electric road, operated by the owners of the Broadway cable. The total mileage of track 
in the city is now 208, with forty-five additional miles authorized and about to be con- 
structed. At the present time the percentage of cable to electric road is as one and 
eight. This percentage will be still further decreased by the substitution of electricity 
for cable power on the Citizen's road, or Franklin Avenue cable, as it is more generally 
called, the change being now nearly complete. 
St. Louis, December, 1894. 




Table of content s. 

CHAPTER I . PAGE. 

Old St. Louis: From the Founding of the Tradino; Post in 17(U to the Adoption of the 

City vSchenie and Charter in 1876, - - - - - - - - - '* 

CHAPTER II. 

Nkw vSt. Lori.s: Some of the Influences which Brought About the City's Second Birth. — 

A Succession of Triumphs, ....------ 20 

CHAPTER III. 

Manuf.\ctures: a Brief Summary of the Immense Importance of the Manufacturing 

Interests of New St. Louis, ----------- 27 

CHAPTER IV. 

Tr.\de and Commerce: St. Louis Territory and the Way in which Its Orders for Merchan- 
dise are Executed, ------------ 45 

CHAPTER V. 

Railro.\d .\nd River Facilities: The Best Raihoad Center in the United States. — The 
Largest City on the Largest River in the Workl. — The Largest Railroad Station in 
the World, ' - - -' - 58 

CHAPTER \' I . 

R.\PID Tr.\nsit and Its Influences: Early Struggles of Omnibus and Street Car Com- 
panies. — The Introduction of Cable and Electric Power. — The P^ffect on Improvements 
and \'alues, ------------- 70 

C H A P T E R \' I I . 

Some Aids to Progress: The Veiled Prophet, Autumnal Festivities Association, Illumi- 
nations, Exposition and Fair. — Conventions. — Commercial Organizations, - - 71^1 

CHAPTER \' I I I . 

p-iNANCE AND Banking: New St. Louis an Important Financial Center. — Bank Clearings. — 

Trust Companies and Building Associations, ------- 89 

CHAPTER IX. 

Building Improvements: One Hundred Miles of Street Frontage Built Upon in Three 
Years. — Histor\- of the Fire-Proof Ofifice-Building Era. — Investments and Improve- 
ments and Their Influence upon Values, - . - - . - . i)4 

CHAPTERX. 

Municipal Development: The New Water-Works.— New City Hall. — New St. Louis, 

the Pioneer in Street vSprinkling and Electric Lighting, ----- 105 

CHAPTER XI. 

Social Advantages: A Clean Bill of Health and Its Causes. — -Educational Facilities. — 
Art. — Libraries. — Churches. — Music. — Theaters. — Clubs. — Hotels. — Bench and Bar. 
— Medieal. — ^Journalism, --.---..--- 115 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



CHAPTER I. 

OLD ST. LOUIS. 

FROM THE FOUNDING OF THE TRADING POST IN 1764, TO THE ADOPTION OF THE CITY 

SCHEME AND CHARTER IN 1S76. 



^^HE TRADING POST from which has 
\ / grown the fifth largest city in the 
(g) (s) United States was established in ITIU, 
in which year Augnste Chouteau, with 
about thirty followers, lauded at the 
foot of what is now known as Walnut 
street. The founders of the city erected a few 
log cabins on the ground subsequently occupied 
by Barnum's Hotel, and here they were joined 
by Pierre Liguest L,aclede (or Pierre Laclede 
lyiguest, as he seems to have signed his name), 
by whose directions the settlement had been 
made. Authorities differ concerning the origin 
of the name by which the city has been known 
from the first. The theory generally accepted 
to-day is that Laclede christened the settlement 
" St. Louis " in honor of the canonized monarch 
of France, though quite a large number of well- 
informed writers assert that he gave it the name 
as a mark of respect and lo\-alty to Louis XV., 
who then occupied the F"reucli throne, and whose 
patron saint was Louis IX. In explanation of 
this latter theory, it is argued that Laclede was 
not aware that the territory west of the Missis- 
sippi River had been ceded to Spain, and that 
he only learned of his error the following year, 
when, to his intense grief and disgust, he 
became acquainted with the terms of the treaty 
of Paris of 1703. But, however this may 



have been, the early settlers were almost exclu- 
sively French; and, although the territory was 
nominally under Spanish go\'ernment, little ef- 
fort was made to assert authority or to introduce 
the Spanish language or customs. The history 
of the trading post during the eighteenth cen- 
tur)' has been written at length by several com- 
petent authorities. The adventures of the hardy 
pioneers were more thrilling than important, 
and for the purposes of this review it is suffi- 
cient to state that when the famous Louisiana 
purchase was completed in the year 1803, the 
population of St. Louis was still less than a 
thousand, with Carondelet as a separate trading 
post or town, with a population about one-fifth 
that of St. Louis itself. 

An excellent pen picture of St. Louis at the 
time of its passing into the hands of the United 
States is given by Richard Edwards in his 
"Great West." "There was," we are told, 
"but one baker in the town, by the name of 
LeClerc, who baked for the garrison, and who 
lived in Main street, between what is now 
known as Elm and Walnut. There were three 
blacksmiths, Delosier, who resided in Main 
.street, near Morgan; Recontre, wdio lived in 
Main, near Carr, and Valois, who resided in 
Main, near Elm, and did the work for the gov- 
ernment. There was but one physician, who was 



10 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



Dr. vSaugrain, who practiced many years after 
the territory passed into the possession of the 
Aniericau government, and who lived on Second 
street. 

" There were but two little French taverns in 
the town, one kept by Yostic, and the other by 
Landreville, chiefly to accommodate the couriers 
dcs hois (hunters) and the voyagcurs (boatmen) 
of the Mississippi. These little taverns, visited 
by the brave, daring and reckless men, who 
lived three-fourths of the time remote from civ- 
ilization, in the wild solitudes of the forests and 
rivers, and in constant intercourse with the sav- 
ages, were the very nurseries of legendary nar- 
ratives, where the hunters, the trappers and the 
boatmen, all mingling together under the genial 
excitement of convivial influences, would relate 
perilous adventures, hair-breadth escapes; deaths 
of comrades and families by the tomahawk, star- 
vation and at tlie iire-stake; murders by the 
pirates of Grand Tower and Cottonwood Creek; 
captivity in the wilderness and cave, and pro- 
tracted sufferings in the most agonizing forms 
incident to humanity. There is no record of 
these wild narratives, which could have been 
preser\-ed for future times, had there been an 
historian, who, by the embalming power of 
genius, would have preserved them in an imper- 
ishable shape for posterity. Both of these 
taverns stood upon the corners of Main and 
Locust streets. 

" The principal merchants and traders, at the 
time of the cession to the United States, were 
Auguste Chouteau, who resided in Alain street, 
between Market and Walnut; Pierre Chouteau, 
who resided on the corner of Main street and 
Washington avenue, and had the whole square 
encircled with a stone wall — he had an orchard 
of choice fruit, and his house and store were in 
one building — the store being the first story, 
and the family residence the second; Manuel Lisa 
lived on Second street, corner of Spruce; Labbadie 
& Sarpv; Roubidou lived at the corner of Elm 
and Main, and Jaques Clamorgan corner of 
Green and Main. The Debreuil family occu- 
pied a whole square on Second street, between 
Pine and Chestnut." 



THE FIRST The town of St. Louis was 

INCORPORATION. ^'''^^ incorporated on Novcm- 
ber 9, 180!*, in accordance 
with the provisions of an act passed the preced- 
ing year by the Legislature of the Territory of 
Louisiana. The boundaries as then defined cor- 
respond with present lines and names as follows: 
On the north a line from the river, between 
Biddle and Ashley streets, to the vicinity of 
Se\-euth and Carr, thence south to Seventh and 
Cerre streets, and thence east to the river. The 
population of the town on its budding into cor- 
porate existence was 1,400, and its wealth, ac- 
cording to the first assessment, was $13-4, 51(j. 
Auguste Chouteau was the heaviest tax-payer, 
his town assessment being $1."),000, independent 
of about S(;i,000 worth of real estate which was 
sitiuited beyond the limits of the little town, 
but which is now in the heart of the great city. 
There had been a great deal of land speculation 
prior to this, and values had gone up e\-ery time 
the tide of immigration gained strength and im- 
petus. There were a few other wealthy men in 
the city, as wealth went" in those days, includ- 
ing J. B. C. Lucas, John O'F'allon, William 
Clark, W^illiam Christy and Henry \'on Phul. 

After its incorporation the town of St. Louis 
began to grow rapidly, and in the year 1822, 
when it was advanced to the rank and dignity 
of a city, its population was 5,000. The boun- 
daries were extended in December of that year 
as far north as Ashley street and as far soutli as 
Labbadie and Convent streets, the western line 
being on Broadway, between Ashley and Biddle 
streets, and on Seventh, between Biddle and Lab- 
badie streets. The area of the town was thus 
increased to 385 acres, on which there were to 
be found about (i'>0 houses, 419 of which were 
frame. The taxable property had not yet reached 
a million dollars, and the annual income from 
taxation was a trifle less than $4,000. 

Several additions were platted out during the 
'30s, including the Lucas addition, between 
Seventh and Ninth and Market and St. Charles 
streets; the Soulard addition, between tlie ri\-er 
and Carondelet avenue and Park and Geyer ave- 
nues; O'Fallon's li^'M^ addition, between Sev- 



OLD ST. LOUIS. 



11 



enth and Eighth streets and Wash street and 
Franklin avenue; Langham's addition, between 
LaSalle and Rutger streets and Second and Fifth 
streets; Christy's addition, between Ninth and 
Twelfth streets and Franklin and Lucas avenues; 
O'Fallon's 1837 addition, between Seventh and 
Fourteenth streets and Franklin avenue and 
Biddle street; and Soulard's second addition, be- 
tween Carondelet avenue and Decatur street and 
Park and Geyer avenues, including a reserved 
square, subsequently the site of the Soulard 
Market. 

In 1839 the city limits were again extended. 
In the meantime the population had increased 
rapidly and was now 1(),000, with taxable prop- 
erty assessed at §8,682,000. In 1841 the limits 
were again increased, this time to take in a to- 
tal area of 2,(i30 acres and to increase the tax- 
able property to twelve millions. Additions 
were laid out in large numbers during the next 
fifteen years, including William C. Carr's third 
addition from Eighteenth street to Jefferson 
avenue, between Franklin avenue and Biddle 
street. The conditions of the dedication of this 
addition were unique. It was declared that 
there "shall be no butchery, tallow chandlery, 
soap factory, steam factory, tannery, nine-pin 
alley, or any other offensive business or occupa- 
tion, set up or carried on in any part of said ad- 
dition, whereby the dwellers or any lot-owners, 
proprietors or occupants may be in any way an- 
noyed or disturbed." Nine-pin alleys appear 
to have been a special menace to peace and 
quietness half a century ago, for the dedication 
of several other additions contain specific ref- 
erences to and restrictions against them. 

In December, 18;")."), the city limits were again 
extended, and most of the additions of the last 
ten or twelve j'ears were taken in. The south- 
ern boundary was extended to Keokuk street, 
and a line ()()0 feet west and north of Grand ave- 
nue became the western and northern limits. 
The area of the city was increased to seventeen 
square miles, and the assessed valuation to 
$.59,(509,289. The town of Bremen, incorporated 
in 184."), and the town of Highland, incorporated 
three years later, were absorbed bv the exten- 



sion. The former has preserved its name and 
individuality to this day, but the latter is known 
only to history and the proverbial " oldest in- 
habitant." It included the five squares between 
Jefferson and Leffingwell avenues, from Laclede 
avenue to Eugenia street. Among the numer- 
ous subdivisions which became portions of the 
city in 1855, the Stoddard and Compton Hill 
additions are the only two which have preserved 
their identity to any extent, or whose names are 
familiar to any except title examiners and realty 
agents. 

After another interval of fifteen years, in 
April, 1870, the limits were again extended, 
and Carondelet became a portion of St. Louis. 
Our southern neighbor, which at one time had 
been looked upon as a possible rival, had not 
been able to keep up with us, though it had 
grown into a prosperous little city, first incorpo- 
rated in 1833, and advanced to city rank 
eighteen years later. In 1872 the limits were 
extended north and west so as to include Tower 
Grove, Forest and O' Fallon Parks, but in 1874 
the Legislature repealed the act and restored the 
limits of 1870. 

On August 22, IS 71!, the scheme and charter 
was adopted, and the city of St. Louis was sep- 
arated from the county, it being thus made a 
free city in local government; an advantage 
possessed by no other city in the Mississippi 
Valley.* The area was increased to sixty-two 
and one-fourth square miles, and the assessed 
value of real estate to $181,345,5(50. The new 
territory made part of St. Louis included the 
towns of Lowell, incorporated in 1849; Rock 
Springs (18.")2), Cheltenham (1852), Quinette 
(1859), Mount Olive (18.54), and Cote Bril- 
liaute (1853), as well as McRee City, Fair- 
mount, Rose Hill, Evans Place and College 
Hill additions. Some of these towns and ad- 
ditions still retain their names, while others 
have completely lost their identity, and become 
entirely merged into the general street nomen- 
clature. Every one has heard of, and may have 



*As far as the writer has been able to ascertain, there 
is but one other town in the United States which is prac- 
tically a county as well as a city. 



12 



OLD AXn NFAV ST. I.Ol'IS. 



EARLY Fl.\A\ClAL 
DIFFICULTIES. 



smelt, Lowell, but comparatively few could lo- 
cate Ouinette or McRee City. Twenty years 
hence, few, if any, of these distincti\e names 
will exist in anything but a pleasant memory. 

St. Louis kept pace with 
its increase in territory. A 
post-office was established 
soon after the Louisiana purchase, and Rufus 
Easton, a lawyer and title examiner, was the 
first postmaster. In July, 1<S()8, Joseph Char- 
less commeuced the issue of the Missouri Ga:i't/i\ 
the first newspaper published west of the Mis- 
sissippi. It was necessarily a ver}' primitive 
newspaper, but its growth has been on a par 
with that of the city, and, as the Missouri A\- 
pnhlican and the Si. Louis Republic^ it has 
acquired national importance and influence. In 
1811 there were two schools, one French and 
one English, and during that year a market was 
erected on Centre Square, between Market and 
Walnut streets and Main street and the river, 
the site of the old Merchants' Exchange. In 
1816the first bank was incorporated, with Samuel 
Hammond as president and John B. X. Smith, 
cashier. Prior to this there had been little or 
no circulating medium in St. Louis, trading be- 
ing conducted by means of exchanges of lead 
and skins for groceries, dr\- goods and other 
merchandise. This financial institution, the 
Bank of St. Louis, soon had a ri\al in the Bank 
of ^Missouri, established in IS 1 7, with Auguste 
Chouteau as president, but neither of these banks 
enjoyed a lengthy career of prosperity. Even 
in those days bank officials were not proof against 
the temptation of over-speculation. 

While the inhabitants of St. Louis were wor- 
rj'ing over financial problems, Missouri was ad- 
mitted to the Union, and in December, l.S:?:2, 
the newly-fonned State Legislature passed an 
act incorporating St. Louis. In April of the 
following year the first corporate officers of the 
city were elected. Mr. William Carr Lane was 
the first mayor of the city, and ^Messrs. Thomas 
McKnight, James Kennerly, Philip Rocheblane, 
Archibald Gamble, William H. Savage, Robert 
Nash, James Loper, Henry \'on Phul and James 
Lackman were the first aldermen elected after 



the cit\'s final incorporation. The size and 
importance of St. Louis at this period are 
easily ascertained, because, in 18:^1, the first St. 
Louis directory was published, and, although 
comjiared with publications of to-day the book 
appears crude and imperfect, it gives informa- 
tion of a very valuable character, and settles a 
great many questions which would otherwise be 
in dispute. 

From this directory it appears that in ?*rav, 
lS-21, or about eighteen months before tlie in- 
corporation, there were i>.''l dwelling houses in 
St. Louis; of these, i'M were of brick and stone 
and 41!l were of wood, and rather more than 
half the structures were in the northern portion 
of the town. In addition to the dwelling houses, 
there were, to use the words of the directory, 
" a number of brick, stone and wooden ware- 
houses, stables, shops and outhouses." Among 
the buildings, the steamboat waiehouse, built 
by ^Ir. Josiah Bright, is described as a large 
brick building, which would do credit to any of 
the Eastern cities. ^leutiou is made of " the 
Cathedral," which, when the directory was 
compiled, was forty feet high, with a frontage 
of forty feet and a depth of one hundred 
and thirty-five, and also of the elegant and 
valuable library of Bishop Du Bourg. The 
St. Louis College, we are told, had sixty- 
fi\-e students and several teachers. As to the 
other educational and mercantile establishments, 
the following extract from the directon,- tells 
the story concisely and with e\-ident accuracy. 
" St. Louis likewise con- 
tains ten common schools, 
a brick Baptist church, forty 
feet by sixt\-, built in 1818, and an Episcopal 
church, of wood. The ^lethodist congregation 
hold their meetings in the old court house and 
the Presbyterians in the circuit court-room. In 
St. Louis are the following mercantile, profes- 
sional, mechanical, etc., establishments, viz.: 
Forty-.six mercantile establishments, which carry 
on an extensive trade with the most distant parts 
of the Republic in merchandise, produce, furs 
and peltry; three auctioneers, who do consider- 
able business — each pays $200 per annum to 



.4 PEN PICTURE 

IS 1821. 



OLD ST. LOUIS. 



V: 



the State for a license to sell, and on all 
personal property sold is a State dnty of 
tliree per cent, on real estate one and a half 
per cent and their commission of five per 
cent; three weekly newspapers, viz., the Si. 
Loitis Inquirer, Missouri Gazette and St. Louis 
Register., and as many printing offices; one 
book store; two binderies; three large inns, to- 
gether with a number of smaller taverns and 
boarding-houses; six livery stables; fifty-seven 
grocers and bottlers; twenty-seven attorneys 
and counsellors-at-law; thirteen physicians; three 
druggists and apothecaries; three midwives; 
one portrait painter, who would do credit to any 
country; five clock and watchmakers, silver- 
smiths and jewelers; one silver plater; one en- 
graver; one brewery, where are manufactured 
beer, ale and porter of a quality equal to any in 
the Western countrj^; one tannery; three soap 
and candle factories; two brickyards; three 
stonecutters; fourteen bricklayers and plasterers; 
twenty-eight carpenters; nine blacksmiths; three 
gunsmiths; two copper and tinware manufac- 
turers; six cabinetmakers; four coachmakers 
and wheelwrights; three saddle and harness 
manufacturers; seven turners and chairmakers; 
three hatters; twelve tailors; thirteen boot and 
shoe manufacturers; ten ornamental house and 
sign painters and glaziers; one nail factors-; 
four hair-dressers and perfumers; two confec- 
tioners and cordial distillers; four coopers, block, 
pump and mastmakers; four bakers; one comb 
factory; one bellman; five billiard tables, which 
pay an annual tax of $100 each to the State 
and the same sum to the corporation; several 
liacks or pleasure carriages and a considerable 
number of drays and carts; several professional 
musicians, who plas' at the balls, which are very 
frequent and well attended by the inhabitants, 
more particularly the French, who, in general, 
are remarkably graceful performers and much 
attached to so rational, healthy and improving 
an amusement; two potteries are within a few 
miles, and there are several promising gardens 
in and near to the town." 

A great deal more information of a valuable 
character is given. Thus, we are told that 



eight streets ran parallel with the river, inter- 
sected by twenty-three streets running east and 
west. The streets in the lower part of the town 
were narrow, varying from thirty-two to thirty- 
eight and one-half feet in width, but the streets 
on "the hill" were much wider and more hand- 
some. On the- hill in the center of the town 
was a public .square 240x^^00 feet, reserved for a 
court-house. Mention is made of two fire en- 
gines, with properly organized companies, one 
in the northern and the other in the southern 
portion of the city, in addition to which ever>' 
dwelling and store had to be provided with 
good leather fire buckets. Much space is de- 
voted to the Missouri Fur Company, whose cap- 
ital was ''supposed" at the time to amount to 
about $70,000, the company having in its em- 
ploy twenty-five clerks and interpreters, and 
seventy laboring men. The Indian trade of the 
Missouri and Mississippi Rivers amounted to 
about $(500,000 a year; and the estimated im- 
ports of the town to about $2,000,000. The 
commerce by water was carried in by steam- 
boats, barges and keel boats, and the principal 
articles of trade were fur, peltry, lead and agri- 
cultural products. Two miles above town, at 
North St. Louis, there was a .steam saw-mill, 
with several common mills on neighboring 
streams. "The roads leading from St. Louis," 
the director}' notice continues, "are very good, 
and it is expected that the great national turn- 
pike leading from Washington will strike this 
place, as the Commissioners of the United States 
have reported in favor of it." 

The population of the town was estimated at 
5, .500 by the compiler of the director^', and the 
alphabetical list of householders contains about 
800 names. It is interesting to note the first 
name on the list is "Abel, Sarah, seamstress. 
North Fourth, above C," and the last "Young, 
Benjamin, baker and grocer, 81 South Main 
street." 

The salarj' of the first mayor 
of St. Louis, Mr. William Carr 



THE CITY'S 
FIRST MAYOR. 



Lane, was fixed at $300 per 
annum, but he applied himself most zealously 
to the city's interest; and among the first acts 



14 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOCIS. 



of his administration were the division of the 
city into wards, the straightening and more ac- 
curate defining of the streets, the appointment 
of assessors and health officers, and the grad- 
ing and partial paving of Main street. 

In 1826 an ordinance was passed authorizing 
the building of a court-house, and in the follow- 
ing year work was commenced on the arsenal. 
A forward step was taken in the direction of 
city improvements by the systematic naming 
of the streets. At first, all the streets of St. 
Louis bore French names. Main street, from 
Almond to Morgan, was "La Rue Principale," 
and Second street was "La Rue de TEglise," or 
Church street, so called because of the first 
church of the city being built upon it. These 
French names had continued until 1<S()9, when 
another s)-stem was adopted. Market street, 
which was e\-en then the dividing line between 
north and south, was the only east and west 
street with a distinctive name. Other streets 
were, for the most part, distinguished by letters 
of the alphabet. In 1X27 a much better system 
-of nomenclature was adopted, and during the 
same year ordinances were passed for raising 
funds for the erection of a market and town- 
house, and also for the grading and pa\ing of 
Chestnut and Olive streets as far west as Fourth. 

In 1829, Mr. Daniel B. Page was elected 
mayor, and much activity was manifested by 
the municipal authorities in the way of street 
grading and paving. Fourth street was sur- 
veyed from Market to Lombard street, and Sev- 
enth street was extended to the then northern 
limits of the city. Locust street was also graded 
and paved as far west as Fourth, and the city 
began to put on metropolitan airs in other ways. 
In the following year a bridge was erected 
across Mill Creek, at Fourth and Fifth streets, 
and a large amount of enterprise in the way of 
brick-making was manifested. As a result, the 
primiti\-e one-story houses of the French and 
Spanish regime began to give place rapidly to 
brick buildings, and the building lines were 
much more carefully observed. 

In 1831, more attention was paid to manu- 
facturing, and the steamboat and river traffic 



began to increase rapidly. The work of paving 
and grading the streets was continued actively, 
and the government of the city was generally 
regarded as excellent. In 1832 the citv's pro- 
gress was checked by an attack of cholera, but 
in the following year the temporary set-back 
was overcome, and marked progress was made. 
Mr. Edwards, in his " Great West," says of this 
period: "Since the first arrival of a steamboat, 
every year they have increased in number, and 
at this time there was not a day but numbers of 
steamers landed at the le\'ee, or departed for 
Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and the upper and lower 
Mississippi. There was also a line of stages for 
Vincennes and Louisville. The time of per- 
forming the journey by coach between St. Louis 
and Louisville was three and a half days. There 
was also a stage line between St. Louis and 
Galena, via Springfield. There was, as yet, no 
railway to destroy the impediments of distance, 
and a journey through the interior of the West- 
ern country, that could not be assisted by river 
navigation, if performed in earh' spring, was as- 
sociated with every idea of discomfort; the 
horses floundering in mud-holes, and probably 
not being able to extricate the vehicle, and then 
the traveller had to step out, ofttimes in the very 
middle of the sink, wdiich held to his legs with 
such quicksand pertinacity that it frequently re- 
quired considerable effort to disengage himself." 

Despite these appar- 
ent difficulties,- 1 h e 
city's growth was 
rapid, and nuich foresight was manifested by 
the authorities. In 183;'), the Connnons were 
sold and one-tenth of the proceeds was devoted 
to the support of public schools, the remainder 
of the proceeds being used for city improve- 
ments generally. Much enthusiasm was aroused 
by the success of the sale, and a local writer of 
the day says of St. Louis: "She already com- 
mands the trade of a larger section of territory, 
with a few exceptions, than any other city in 
the Union. With a steamboat navigation more 
than equal to the whole Atlantic seaboard; with 
internal improvements, projected and in pro- 
gress; with thousands of emigrants spreading 



ENTHUSIASM AND MET 
APHOR IN I83S. 



OLD ST. LOUIS. 



tlieir lialjitatioiis over fertile plains which ever)- 
where meet the eye, who can deny that we are 
fast verging to the time when it will be admitted 
that this city is the lion of the West?" 

The same writer goes on to enthuse over the 
proposed erection of a theatre, and shortly after 
his prophecy was issned, the corner-stone was 
laid of the St. Lonis Theatre on the corner of 
Third and Olive streets, on the site now occn- 
pied by the old post-office. The ground cost 
fifty dollars a foot front and the expense of the 
building was about $()(), 0(H). The enterprise 
appears to have been somewhat in advance of 
the requirements of the times, and the early 
history of the theatre shows that the projectors 
met with a great deal of discouragement. 

A year later work was commenced on the 
Planter's House, which was subsequently com- 
pleted by the St. Louis Plotel Company. 

In IcS.'Jiij about twenty-five of the leading 
merchants formed the "St. Louis Chamber of 
Commerce," not for the purpose of bu}-ing and 
selling grain and trading in options, but to gener- 
ally further the interests of the city in commer- 
cial matters. Edward Tracy was the first presi- 
dent, Henry Von Phul, vice-president, and John 
Ford, secretary. Meetings were held after office 
hours at regular intervals, and substantial good 
was effected. The ]Merchants' Exchange was not 
established until 1849, and in 18.30 it was joined 
by the Millers' Association. In 1837, the Bank 
of the State of Missouri was incorporated with 
a capital stock of 15,000,000. The need of 
banking facilities had been much felt in St. 
Louis, and the new institution was heralded 
with much rejoicing and satisfaction. 

It was at about this period that the absolute 
necessity of railroad facilities between St. Louis 
and the East and West began to be appreciated, 
and Mayor John F. Darby called the first rail- 
road convention held in St. Louis. Although 
some years elapsed before practical results were 
manifest, the building of the roads now known 
as the Iron Mountain and the Missouri Pacific 
was practically decided upon. Delegates were 
present at the convention from eleven of the 
best counties of the State, and the influence of 



the meeting was felt in many ways. The years 
1830 and 1837 were also memorable in the his- 
tory of St. Louis for the first appearance of a 
daily paper, the Missouri Republican., com- 
mencing its daily issue at about the time of the 
railroad convention. 

The financial panic of 1837 does not appear 
to have affected St. Louis as much as other cities 
of the Union, and even at this early stage of its 
existence, the "Future Great" established a 
reputation for solidity and financial soundness 
which has so marked it during the last half- 
century. The recovery from the depression was 
so rapid that the year 1839 was distinctly a 
boom year. The Mechanics' Exchange was 
formed, the steamboat trade grew enormoush-, a 
mayor's court was established and the population 
increased to upwards of 1(),000. During the 
year more than 2,000 steamboats arrived at the 
port — no less than 659 during the month of 
March. 

In 1841, the Planters' House was opened, and 
that the city had attained considerable import- 
ance as a manufacturing point is shown by the 
record of factories and business establishments 
to be found within it. There were, according 
to Mr. Edwards, two foundries; twelve stove, 
grate, tin and copper manufactories; twent\'- 
seven blacksmiths and housesmiths; two white- 
lead, red-lead and litharge manufactories; one 
castor-oil factory; twenty cabinet and chair fac- 
tories; two establishments for manufacturing 
linseed-oil; three factories for the making of 
lead pipe; fifteen tobacco and cigar manufac- 
tories; six grist-mills; six breweries; a glass- 
cutting establishment; a britannia manufactory; 
a carpet manufactory and an oil-cloth factory. 
There were also a sugar refinery; a chemical 
and fancy soap manufactory; a pottery and 
stoneware manufactory; an establishment for 
cutting and beautifying marble; two tanneries, 
and several manufactories of plows and other 
agricultural implements. 

In the following year the foundation stone of 
the Centenary church at the corner of Fifth and 
Pine streets was laid, and in 1843 immense act- 
ivity was manifested in the building of com- 



16 



OI^D AXD NEW ST. LOUIS. 



THE GREAT FIRE 
AND ITS 



inercial structures. Eighteen hundred and forty- 
four was the year of the disastrous river flood 
which did immense damage, but which did not 
prevent 1,14G buildings being erected during 
the year. 

In 184(5 the Mercantile 
Library was organized, 

and the foundation laid 
INFLUENCES. ^^^ ^,^^ ^^j^^^^^j^^ .^^^^■^^^_ 

tion which has done so much educational work 
for the city in every way. In 1849 the city's 
progress was checked by a calamitous fire, re- 
sulting in a loss of upwards of §3,000,()0(). The 
entire area between Locust and Market streets, 
and from Second street to the river, was devast- 
ated, and this catastrophe was followed bv an- 
other attack of cholera, this time more serious 
than the first. During the months of I\Iay, 
June and July the number of deaths attributed 
to cholera amounted to 4,000, and when the 
scourge was over a stricken and bruised city 
was left. Under some conditions dual disaster 
such as this would have discouraged the inhab- 
itants and set back the progress of the city for 
many years; but the men who were building up 
St. Louis were of sterner stuff than this, and it 
has since turned out that the disasters were in 
many respects blessings in disguise. The new 
buildings which took the place of the old ones 
Avere nuich more substantial in character and 
much more metropolitan in appearance and far 
greater precautions were taken against loss by 
fire. Main street was widened, the levee was 
paved and sanitary regulations were adopted 
which have since proved of immense value to 
the city. 

On October 15th of this year the second great 
railroad convention was held, and the building 
of the Pacific Railroad was assured. On the 
fourth of July, 1851, ground v»'as broken for this 
road, and in 1852 work was commenced on the 
Ohio and Mississippi and on the Terre Haute 
and Alton roads. Thus was the foundation 
laid for the system of railroads which has made 
St. Louis the best railroad center in America. 
In 1855 the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechan- 
ical Association was incorporated with Mr. J. 



Richard Barret its first president. The site 
still occupied by the Fair Grounds was pur- 
chased and in 1856 the first fair was held. 

Early in the same year work was commenced 
on the Southern Hotel, but the progress made 
prior to ISHl was inconsiderable. Street rail- 
roads began to make their appearance at this 
l^eriod, and it is mentioned as quite an achieve- 
ment that seven or eight thousand passengers 
were carried daily. In 1859 the old Post-office 
and Government building was erected on Third 
and Olive streets, and Mr. John Hogan ap- 
pointed postmaster. 

When the war broke out the population of 
St. Louis was a little more than ltiO,000. Prog- 
ress was retarded b\- the " late unpleasantness," 
but not altogether checked. In 18(52 the court 
house was finally completed, and in 18(54 an 
act was passed by the Legislature incorporating 
the Illinois and St. Louis Bridge Company. In 
the following year the Missouri Legislature 
passed an amended act, and the necessary legis- 
lation was also obtained in the State of Illinois. 
In 18(57 the Polytechnic building was finished, 
and in the same year Captain J. B. Eads com- 
pleted his plans for the magnificent bridge which 
still bears his name, and which is regarded justly^ 
as one of the wonders of the world. In 18^^ 
the Keystone Bridge Company of Pittsburg un- 
dertook the contract for the superstructure, and 
on the fourth of July, 1874, it was announced 
with great rejoicing that the magnificent bridge 
was completed . The tunnel was also constructed , 
connecting the bridge approach with the old 
Union Depot, and St. Louis at last was con- 
nected directly by means of railroads with the 
East. 

This completes a brief outline of the history 
of Old St. Louis, from its first settlement by 
Laclede and Chouteau to the completion of the 
first bridge across the Father of Waters and the 
adoption of the Scheme and Charter. No at- 
tempt has been made to go into full details, but 
sufficient has been stated to indicate by what 
stages the little Indian trading point grew into 
a frontier village, a county town; an important 
river port, and finally a great metropolis. 



OLD ST. LOUIS. 



17 



ANNALS OF 
OLD ST. LOUIS. 



The various events and liappeniii<(S since the 
opening of the bridge will be found recorded in 
the various chapters dealing with the most im- 
portant features of New St. Louis, a city which 
is destined to be at an early date the Metropolis 
of the Mid-Coutineut, and which is now the 
commercial and financial metropolis of the tier 
of prosperous and growing States which make 
up the great West, Southwest and South. 

The following table of 
events of interest connect- 
ed with Old St. Louis, 
will also be of value in tracing the growth of 
the city, and the building of great things out of 
small. It is not a complete historical index, 
but deals with points of importance with wdiich 
every St. Louisan ought to be familiar: 

February 15, 17(31, Auguste Chouteau landed 
at site of St. Louis. 

Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, French Com- 
mander, took possession July 17, 176;"). 

French supremacy supplanted by Spanish do- 
minion, August 11, 17()8. 

Pontiac, the great Indian chief, visited St. 
Ange in 17t3it, and was nuirdered while visiting 
Cahokia. 

Lieutenant Governor and Military Command- 
ant Don Pedro Piernas assumed control for 
Spain, November 29, 1770. 

St. Ange de Bellerive, who had accepted mili- 
tary services under Piernas, died in 177-1, and 
was buried in the Catholic cemetery. 

Pierre Laclede Liguest laid out and chris- 
tened St. Louis, March, 17t)l. 

First marriage, that of Toussaint Hanen and 
Marie Baugenon, solemnized April 20, 17()(;. 

First Catholic church dedicated with solemn 
ceremonies, June 24, 1770. 

First ferry established by Gamasche, June, 
1776, forerunnerof the Wiggins Ferry of to-day. 

Les Petites Cotes, subsequently St. Andrews, 
now St. Charles, founded in 17()!(, and Floris- 
sant, then calkd St. Ferdinand, in 1776. 

Pierre Laclede Liguest died June 20, 1778, 
while en route to New Orleans, and was buried 
somewhere near the mouth of the Arkansas. 

Don Fernand de Leyba in 1778 succeeded Don 



Francisco Cruyat, a wise and popular Governor 
in command of Upper Louisiana. 

Monday, May 26, 1780, 1,000 Indians, in- 
cited by the English, attacked St. Louis and 
massacred forty citizens. This is known as 
Paiuice du coup — the year of the blow. 

Don Fernand de Leyba died June 28, 1780, 
and was succeeded by Lieut. Silvio Francisco 
Castabana. 

The year 1785 was marked by disastrous 
floods, almost wiping out civilization in the val- 
ley. It was called by the French Pannee des 
grandcs caitx — the year of great waters. 

Boatmen on the Mississippi annoyed by pi- 
rates at Grand Tower, and in 1788 ten vessels 
united in an expedition from New Orleans, van- 
quished the robbers and reached St. Louis safely. 
This' is known as P aiince des dix bateaux — the 
)-ear of the ten boats. 

The winter of 17itl) was of extraordinary se- 
verity, and went into history as Pannee du grand 
liiver — the year of the hard winter. 

Don Manuel Percy assumed gubernatorial 
control in 1788, the population of the St. Louis 
district then being 1,1!I7, exclusive of Indians. 

The beloved Zenan Trudeau was succeeded in 
1798 by Charles Debault de Lassus de Lunerie, 
a native of F'rance long in the Spanish service, 
and promoted to lieutenant-governor from mil- 
itary command. 

May 15, 1801, marked the first appearance of 
small-pox, and the settlers commemorated the 
scourge by a peculiar title, Painiee de la picottc 
— the year of the small-pox. 

The military fort of Belle Fontaine was estab- 
lished on the Missouri, near its mouth, by Gen. 
Wilkinson in 1806. Its site has long since been 
washed away. 

Gen. Merriweather Lewis, the great explorer, 
and at the time Governor of the Territory, com- 
mitted suicide in a moment of depression brought 
on by the hard times prevailing, while on a 
journey to Louisville, in October, 1809. 

The Missouri Fur Company was formed by 
St. Louisans in 1808, and supplanted the Hud- 
son Bay Company in what afterward became 
United States territory. 



18 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



Charter granted St. Louis Lodge, No. Ill, 
Masonic Order, September 15, ISOJS, to Gen. 
Merriweather Lewis, being the first lodge in the 
West. 

First fire company organized January 27, 
IS 10. 

July 4, 1811, first public celebration of Inde- 
pendence Day. 

Earthquake shook St. Louis and vicinity, De- 
cember 16, 1811. 

June 4, 1812, the name of Missouri was 
adopted for Territory, and first Territorial Legis- 
lature met, and the Post-office of St. Louis and 
departure of delegates to Washington. 

First English school opened by Geo. Thomp- 
kins in room on Market street, near Second, 
in 1818. 

August 2, 1815, first steamboat, the "Pike," 
Capt. Jacob Reed, reached the foot of Market 
street, and was greeted with holiday demon- 
stration. 

The Bank of St. Louis, first institution of its 
kind in tlie Territon,-, incorporated August, 1816; 
Samuel Hammond, president, and John B. N. 
Smith, cashier. 

The Missouri Bank was incorporated Febru- 
ary 1, 1817, with Auguste Chouteau, president, 
and Liburn W. Boggs, cashier. 

First Board of School Trustees, formed in 
1817, consisted of Win. Clark, Wm. C. Carr, 
Thomas H. Benton, Bernard Pratte, Auguste 
Chouteau, Alexander McNair and John P. 
Cabanne. 

A fine cathedral was built in 1818 on the site 
of the old log church. It was decorated with 
original paintings by Rubens, Raphael, Guido 
and Paul Veronese, but afterwards destroyed by 
fire, except the gift of Louis XVIII. , now in 
Walnut Street Cathedral. 

A duel between Thomas H. Benton and 
Charles Lucas, April 12, 1817, resulted in the 
wounding of Lucas. A second meeting on Sep- 
tember 27, resulted in his death. 

A duel between Joshua Barton, United States 
District Attorney, and Thomas C. Rector, brother 
of Gen. Wra. Rector, on Bloody Island, June 
30, 1818, resulted in the death of Rector. 



St. Louis was incorporated as a city by act of 
the Legislature December 9, 1822, and William 
Carr Lane elected mayor, with a board of nine 
aldermen. 

May, 18111, the " Independence," first steam- 
boat, left for up the Missouri, reaching Old 
Franklin in seven days. 

Gen. Wm. H. Ashley's expedition from St. 
Louis, 1824, reached the great Utah Lake, and 
discovered the South Pass through the Rocky 
Mountains. 

Marquis Lafayette visited St. Louis April 28, 
1825, and was received with great honor and 
prolonged festivities. 

The year 1825 was marked by the erection of 
the First Episcopal and the First Presbyterian 
churches. The commencement of the present 
court house and Jefferson Barracks and the es- 
tablishment of the United States arsenal were 
in the next year, 1826. 

Convent of the Sacred Heart founded at 
Broadway and Convent street, 1827, by will of 
John MuUanphy. It is now located at ]\Iarys- 
ville, in South St. Louis. 

The St. Louis University, under Jesuit con- 
trol, was permanently opened November 2, 1829, 
at Ninth and Washington avenue. 

First jockey club organized and opened a 
three-day meeting Thursday, October 9, 1828. 
The St. Louis Jockey Club opened the Cote 
Brilliante track June 4, 1877. 

In 1829, the first branch of the United States 
Bank, afterwards a bone of national contention, 
was established, with Col. John O'Fallon as 
president. 

August, 1831, witnessed the bloodiest duel 
on record, Spencer Pettis and Major Biddle 
meeting on Bloody Island, firing at five paces, 
and both falling mortally wounded at the first 
fire. 

The first water works, located at the foot of 
Bates street, were put in operation in 1832, and 
were a private enterprise, and purchased by the 
city in 1835. The BisseU's Point works were 
commenced in 1867 and delivered completed 
July 16, 1870. 

The free public school system of St. Louis 



OLD ST. LOUIS. 



19 



under its present form was created by act of 
Legislature, February 13, 1833. Judge Marie 
P. Leduc was first president. The first free 
school was opened in 1837, four j-ears later. 

First lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows was established June 3, 1835, under the 
name of Travelers' Rest Lodge, No. 1, and had 
five members. 

The year 183(5 was marked by the burning 
alive by a mob of Francis Mcintosh, a negro 
who had killed Deputy Constable Samuel Ham- 
mond, the atrocious event occurring on or about 
the present site of the old Polytechnic building. 

The corner-stone of the St. Louis Theatre 
was laid in 1836 at Third and Olive, on the 
spot afterwards occupied by the custom house. 
N. M. Ludlow, chief of its founders, lived until 
three years ago. This was the first theatre in 
the West. 

"The year the negroes were hung" was 1811, 
four men having murdered two young mer- 
chants, Jacob Weaver and Jesse Baker, for the 
purpose of robbery, and then set fire to the 
building in which the corpses lay. The crim- 
inals were early apprehended, and, being con- 
victed, were executed upon Arsenal Island. 

The first steamboat sent up the Yellowstone, 
the departure of the famous Bonneville expedi- 
tion to the Far West, the exploration of Ar- 
kansas and establishment of Fort William, now 
Little Rock, were events of 1812. 

The Bank of the State of Missouri was in- 
corporated February 1, 1837, with a capital of 
$5,000,000, in time to meet the great panic of 
that year, during which it temporarily sus- 
pended. The Planters' House was commenced 
same year. 

The great Daniel Webster visited St. Louis in 
the summer of 1837, was entertained at the St. 
Clair Hotel, and the next day he spoke for six 
hours to an audience of 5,000 which had gath- 
ered to a barbecue in the field which was after- 
ward Lucas Market Square, and is now known 
as Grant Place. 

Centenary M. E. Church corner-stone was 
laid May 10; Hon. J. B. C. Lucas died; the first 
steamboat was built in St. Louis; Judge Br>'an 



Mullanphy was impeached for oppression; July 
3, the steamer Edna blew up and killed fifty- 
five persons; General Atkinson died at Jefferson 
Barracks, all in the year 1842. 

The Medical Society riots occurred February 
25, 1814r; the volunteer firemen's riot occurred 
July 29, 1849; the first of the Know-nothing 
riots April 5, 1852; a more serious Know-nothing 
riot August 7, 1854, in which ten persons were 
killed and thirty wounded, and the great rail- 
road riots in 1877. 

The "June rise" of 1844 eclipsed all previous 
high-water records, the crest being reached June 
24, with the flood seven feet and seven inches 
above the city directrix. Steamboats landed at 
Second street and plied to the bluffs in Illinois. 
Over 500 people were rendered homeless. The 
city directrix was not reached in the abatement 
until July 14. 

October 15, 1849, a mass convention was held 
at the court house to reconsider the building of 
a railroad to the Far West, which bore fruit, for 
on July 4, 1851, ground was broken in the prac- 
tical commencement of the Pacific Railroad, the 
humble forerunner of the grand system of rail- 
roads now west of the Mississippi river. Thomas 
Allen was president of the first company. 

Washington University was chartered in 1853 
under the name of Eliot Seminary, which was, 
a year later, changed to Washington Institute. 
Smith Academy was added in 185(), and the 
University formally inaugurated April 22, 1857. 
The Law School was added in 18(iO, and the 
Manual Training School in 1880. 

The old Liudell Hotel, on the site of the pres- 
ent hostelry, was commenced in 1857, and when 
completed, represented to the people of the 
country the astounding spectacle of a hotel be- 
yond the Mississippi surpassing in magnitude 
any other in the United States. It was de- 
stroyed by fire in 1867, rebuilt and opened for 
business in 1874. 

The first street car corporation in St. Louis 
was the Missouri Railroad Company, and the 
first car was driven by the president of the com- 
pany, Hon. Erastus Wells, on July 4, 1859, who 
lived to see the development of the finest sys- 



20 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



tem of local transportation of j)assengers in the 
world. 

In l'S74 the Union depot was established and 
the Eads bridge opened for traffic. The Union 
depot has ontli\-ed its usefulness, but the bridge 
remains an honor to the city and to the man 
who designed it. 

In 1876 the scheme and charter was adopted, 
and St. Louis became an independent city with- 
out either county government or taxation. 

In 1878 the first Veiled Prophet's pageant was 
seen in the city, and crude attempts were made 
to illuminate the city. 

The Mercantile and Commercial clubs were 
both organized in 1881. 



In 1882 the Cotton Exchange building was 
opened ; work was commenced on the Exposi- 
tion building, and the first extensive illumina- 
tions were seen. 

In 1882 the agitation in favor of granite pav- 
ing on the down-town streets was commenced 
and took definite shape. 

In 1883 find 1884 the Exposition building 
was constructed, and the first Exposition was 
held in the months of September and October 
of the latter year. 

In 1884 work was commenced with a view to 
securing legislation for a rapid transit street 
railroad in St. Louis, and Old St. Louis ceased 
to have any practical existence. 



CHAPTER. II. 

NEW ST. LOUIS. 

SOME OF THE INFLUENCES WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT THE CITY'S SECOND BIRTH.— A SUC- 
CESSION OF TRIUMPHS. 




WELL-KNOWN character in fiction is 
represented as expressing doubts as to 
her birth, and as hazarding an opin- 
ion that she was never born at all, but 
just "growed." So it is to a great 
extent with New St. Louis. We know 
to a day when Old St. Louis was born ; we know 
how year after year it grew and flourished, and 
we know how and when it fulfilled and surpassed 
early expectations of greatness. 

But just when New St. Louis commenced its 
existence cannot be determined by a reference to 
the calendar or a quotation from it. Old St. 
Louis is a thing of the j^ast. The city in its 
magnificent maturity has "put away childish 
things" and ranks high among the foremost 
cities of the world. Its new Union Station is 
the grandest, largest railway passenger depot 
in the world, with track facilities and connec- 



tions which are at once a marvel of intricacy 
and simplicity ; the largest city on the largest 
ri\er in the world, St. Louis has also unsur- 
passed railroad connections, with lines stretch- 
ing out in every direction and running through 
every State in the Union ; its manufacturing 
and commercial establishments are numerous 
and gigantic, and its manufacturing output is in- 
creasing more rapidly than that of any other city 
in the world. The little narrow thoroughfares of 
our grandparents have given place to some of 
the best paved and lighted streets in America. 
The street railway system of St. Louis has be- 
come the best in the countr)-, and a veritable 
model even in these days of rapid transit and 
electric locomotion. Panics come and go, but 
the banks of St. Louis weather the storm with 
the ease of lifeboats, and emerge from it unin- 
jured either in finance or reputation. The parks 



NEW ST. LOUIS. 



21 



of St. Louis are exquisite oases of beauty aud 
verdure in the midst of a profusiou of commer- 
cial palaces aud delightful homes, aud New St. 
lyouis is iu a huudred other ways a model city, 
not perfect of course, but rapidly advancing to- 
wards the ideal of municipal excellence. 

But this does not settle the question of the 
date of the birth of New St. Louis, always as- 
suming that it was born and did not mysteriously 
gi'ow. The preceding chapter contains a rough 
outline of events from the founding of the town 
to the establishment of the city on an entirely 
independent basis by the adoption of the scheme 
and charter, and it may be asked — does not New 
vSt. Louis date from the severance of the city 
from the county? Did not Old St. Louis come 
into existence in 17(i4and pass out of it in 1876? 
The answer to both questions is " No." 
The difference between Old and New St. Louis 
is far greater than a mere matter of years. It is 
something infinitely more important than a ques- 
tion of area and boundaries. It involves some- 
thing much more tangible than a mere increase 
in material wealth and influence. Old St. Louis 
clung to the traditions of the past long after it 
had become one of the largest cities of the Union. 
It followed where it ought to have led. It 
scented danger in every new project, and devoted 
too little energy to measures of aggressive ad- 
vance. It ignored the rivalry of smaller cities, 
and allowed them to encroach upon its territory 
right up to its very gates, and it adopted a pol- 
icy of ultra-conservatism with a motto, implied 
if not expressed, that what had made the city 
great would keep it so for all time and against 
all comers. In a word it stood still, resting upon 
its own strength, ignoring the changes which 
modern invention and enterprise were making 
around, and ridiculing the idea of a serious devi- 
ation from the old established lines. The com- 
mercial interests of the city were mostly in the 
hands of men of mature years, many of whom 
had come W.est and grown up with the country, 
before Horace Greeley had commenced to phi- 
losophize. 

Some of these veterans heralded the New St. 
Louis idea with delight, and gave it the support 



THE SENTIMENT 

IN 1878. 



and assistance of advice based upon half a cent- 
iiry of hard work. But others, inchiding some 
whose yeoman service certainly entitled them 
to rest and retirement, looked less favorably on 
the necessary rush and hurry of these latter 
days, in which every man who hopes to suc- 
ceed must do at least the work of two men. 
They were literally astounded at the progress 
St. Louis had made during their sojourn in 
it, and instead of regarding that progress as 
evidence of unlimited possibilities, they were 
inclined to regard it as a magnificent achieve- 
ment — as a battle valiantly fought and perma- 
nently won. 

This feeling of finality, if 
the word may be used, was 
well expressed by a local 
writer in 1878: "Are St. Louis business men 
unprogressive? Some of our contemporaries 
out West are disposed to 'poke fun' at St. Louis 
because of the apparently unprogressive and 
unenterprising character of those who are rulers 
in her marts of trade and banks. Well, per- 
haps it is a truth that St. Louis is provokingly 
slow, l)ut it would be well to remember that St. 
Louis is exceedingly sure, that she does not act 
for to-day only, but for all time. The truth is 
St. Louis is a very solid city; that the actual 
financial condition of her business men is a little 
too good for a very aggressive campaign for 
traffic. We do not say that the city is in danger 
of permanent injury from the prosperous condi- 
tion of her citizens engaged in the business of 
merchandising, manufacturing, banking, build- 
ing and other industries. St. Louis is a con- 
servative city, that we readily admit; but the 
conservatism of our citizens does not lead them 
to neglect the great interests which center here, 
and which have thus far led to a great and sulv 
stantial development. It is true, and we readily 
admit it, that the rather ultra-conservatism 
which prevails here sometimes delays the con- 
summation of designs necessary to the contin- 
ued prosperity of the city, and, to the extent of 
such delays, retards and injures its commerce. 
But the good people of St. Louis are neither 
blind nor destitute of ordinary intelligence. 



22 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



They know their interests, and will be very cer- 
tain to guard them with jealous care." 

"Guarding with jealous care" is good, but it 
does not build up a city, nor is it either logical 
or progressive to speak of "the actual financial 
condition of business men" as "a little too good 
for a very aggressive campaign for traffic." 
Eternal vigilance is the price of a great many 
blessings besides liberty. A city can never be sta- 
tionary in anything but location; in commerce, 
finance and influence it must either gain or lose 
— it must either achieve victories, or it must be 
content to suffer losses. Thus it was with Old 
St. Louis in the zenith of its glory. It ceased 
to be aggressive, and it lost ground. The cen- 
sus returns of 1880, the last it ever saw, were 
disappointing in the extreme, and the gains 
made by apparently insignificant rivals caused 
a general awaking to the fact that what the city 
had fought to obtain, it must fight to retain. 
"Poor old Missouri!" "Poor old St. Louis!" 
became every-day expressions, and an impres- 
sion gained ground that St. Louis had seen its 
best days, that it was a great river town, but 
not in the race in the days of railroads, and that 
the western metropolis would not be on the 
western bank of the IMississippi, in the almost 
exact center of the great valley to which the 
Father of Waters gave its name. 

New St. Louis is entirely different. Young, 
untiring men have assumed control of the city 
in every department, and where there was leth- 
argy and content, there is now ceaseless energy 
and laudable ambition. People no longer say, 
"Good enough for St. Louis;" nothing is good 
enough which is not the very best. St. Louisans 
no longer hesitate when a new project of gigan- 
tic proportions is suggested; they are ready, to 
adopt a simile only partly applicable, to step in 
where angels fear to tread. In other words, the 
city leads where it iised to follow; it insists 
where it used to yield; it frightens those it xised 
to fear. 

The change from the old regime to the new 
was in a measure gradual, and in a measure 
sudden. It did not take place when the Eads 
bridge was opened, nor was the extension of the 



THE FIGHT 
FOR RAPID TRANSIT. 



city limits and the adoption of the scheme and 
charter celebrated by a ringing out of the old 
and a ringing in of the new. The last three or 
four years of the seventies belong distinctly to 
the Old St. Louis period, and we must look to 
the eighties for the day and hour of the birth 
of New St. Louis. 

And even here it is a 
case of doctors differing. 
According to one theory 
the death-knell to Old St. Louis was sounded when 
the ground was broken for the first rapid transit 
road in thecity, the old Locust street cable, which 
in its twists and turns used to throw the passen- 
gers around with as little mercy as baggage hand- 
lers usually extend toward trunks and valises. 
Truly, the fight for a franchise was picturesque 
and emblematical. On the one side was the de- 
mand for rapid transit, with the unanswerable 
argument that time is money, and that there was 
no reason for St. Louis being content with mules 
and horses for street car traction, when smaller 
cities were building cable lines rapidly. The 
New St. Louis idea was well brought out, and 
there was a great deal of severe talk about 
old-fogyism, vested interests, Westinghonse air- 
brakes on progress, and the like. 

As to the Old St. Louis theory, it was liter- 
ally ridden to death. A good lawyer has been 
described as an advocate who knows when to 
stop; but the opponents to rapid transit helped on 
the good work of reform and progress by comibal 
descents from the sublime to the ridiculous, and 
by riding their hobby to death. The street car 
powers that were naturally opposed the pro- 
ject because of its dangerous rivalry, and they 
succeeded in getting the ordinance so amended as 
to force upon the promoters what was described 
as "an impossible route." That is to say, they 
multiplied the curves and difficulties to such an 
extent that competent engineers expressed de- 
cided opinions to the effect that the road could 
never be operated even if built. This was fair 
fighting, but it was accompanied by consider- 
able hitting below the belt. Worshipers of the 
old idea screamed with horror. Horses would 
be frightened, wheels would sink into the cable 



NEW ST. LOUIS. 



23 



slot, children and even adults would be crushed 
out of existence by the threatened Juggernaut, 
and streets would be rendered absolutely impass- 
able. These arguments were raised, not once or 
twice, but dozens of times, both before the com- 
mittees of the City Council and House of Dele- 
gates, and in the columns of the newspapers. 
It was a cry of flee from the cars to come, and 
there was no dearth of prophets to foretell dire 
disaster as the immediate and certain effect of 
the proposed profanation of the streets. 

Nor was this all. The old story of the man 
who objected to gas because his father had li\-ed 
and prospered with no brighter illuminant than 
a rush-light, was retold in a new form and with- 
out the narrators noticing the humor of their 
argument. St. Louis, they said, had grown into 
a great city without rapid transit, and what had 
sufficed in the past would do in the future. It, 
or rather they, did not need any innovations, and 
the city's reputation for substantial solidity 
would be jeopardized by the change. People 
did not live far enough from their places of busi- 
ness to make rapid transit necessary, it was 
urged, the theorists calmly oblivious of the fact 
that they were mixing up cause and effect, and 
that the reason people lived in crowded homes 
was because the most attractive and healthy por- 
tions of the city were inaccessible to all but the 
favored few who could afford to keep carriages 
and horses. Public opinion was divided to a 
remarkable extent, but common sense finally 
triumphed, the necessary powers were granted 
and the road was built. 

This was in the years 1884, 1885 and 188(), 
and, we are inclined to think, a little after the 
birth of New St. Louis. There was a pitched 
battle between the old and the new, and both 
forces organized with sufficient thorono-hness to 
indicate the existence of the new idea which was 
gaining strength, as well as the old idea which 
was d)ing so painfully and so hard. 

Again, as evidence 
of the fact that the 
grand awakening took 
place prior to the building of the first rapid 
transit road, the erection of the Exposition 



THE VEILED 
PROPHET'S INFLUENCE. 



Building and the inauguration of autumnal 
illuminations may be recorded. That the Old 
St. Louis idea is not interred, although it is long 
past medical aid, is proved by the fact that 
there are still people to be found who doubt the 
good influence of hospitality, and who cry cni 
bono? every time St. Louis lays itself out to 
attract and entertain. But these are in a hope- 
less minority, for on every hand the opinion 
prevails that if the Veiled Prophet is not the 
actual creator of New St. Louis, he was present 
at the birth and assisted materially in bringing 
it about. It was the Prophet who taught the 
people of St. Louis to appreciate the beauties 
and resources of their own city, and it was the 
Prophet and his followers who downed cry after 
cry of the Old St. Louis order. 

And if it was not the Prophet who suggested 
the building of a home for a permanent exposi- 
tion, who was it? In the years 1883 and 1884, 
the suggestions took material shape, and it is 
probable that this event, more than any other, 
marked the change from the old to the new. 
The raising of the necessary funds to construct 
the building, and the general rallying around 
the standard, roused St. Louisans out of them- 
selves and had an educational influence, the 
value of which it would be difficult, if indeed it 
were possible, to overrate. The change was 
not by any means completed while the work 
was in progress, because the air was full of 
prophesies of failure. No city had ever suc- 
ceeded in making an annual exposition self- 
sustaining, and was it likely "poor Old St. 
Louis could"? It was not at all likely; but it 
was possible for New St. Louis to do what has 
since been so forcibly demonstrated. The mill- 
ions of people who have come from east, west, 
north and south to see the Exposition, the illu- 
minations and the other fall attractions, have 
carried back to their homes enthusiastic state- 
ments as to the grandeur of the city, and have 
concluded description after description with the 
qualification that the half had not been told. 

In a search for the causes which led to an ig- 
noring of the 2:>ast and a determination to plan 
and construct a new future, it would be niani- 



24 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



THE COMMERCIAL CLUB 
AND QRANITE STREETS. 



festly unjust to overlook the influence of two of 
tlie great clubs of St. Louis — the Mercantile 
and the Commercial. The Mercantile Club was 
established three or four years before the Expo- 
sition, and it has been the birthplace of nearly 
every important project which has since seen the 
light. The meeting at which it was proposed 
to construct an exposition building was held in 
the old building on Locust street, and many 
other projects of untold value to the city were 
plotted and schemed in one or the other of the 
rooms of the same building. It was almost 
an act of vandalism to tear down a club house 
which had so many pleasing and profitable 
memories; but it was erected in the reign of 
Old St. Louis, and was not in keeping with 
New St. Louis, either in capacity or elegance. 

The Commercial 
Club differs from the 
Mercantile in one 
essential point. It is a debating society rather 
than a social club, and it also performs many of 
the duties which fall to the lot of boards of 
trade in smaller cities. Since the formation of 
the Autumnal Festivities Association, with its 
numerous committees, the Commercial Club has 
been less heard of than formerly. But in its 
earlier days it was an immense power for good, 
and its influence on improvements of the better 
kind has always been marked. Indeed, it com- 
petes with the rapid transit movement and the 
Veiled Prophet for the right to claim New St. 
Louis as its own particular offspring. The club 
was established in the year 1881, and its forma- 
tion proved to no inconsiderable extent the ex- 
istence of a spirit of dissatisfaction with the 
existing condition of affairs and a determination 
to strike out in fresh lines and pastures new. 
In March, 1882, Mr. George E. Leighton read a 
paper before the club in which he spoke strongly 
on the importance of an improvement in the 
streets and of better paving. The arguments 
were heartily appreciated, and if the paper did 
not result in the immediate repavingof the bus- 
iness streets, it at least opened the eyes of the 
public to the paramount importance of the work, 
whioiiwas commenced soon after its reading. 



Again, the Old St. Louis ultra-conservatism 
was manifested; and the reform was fought bit- 
terly. At that time, and, indeed, up to the 
year 1893, the cost of street reconstruction was- 
charged against the property fronting on it, 
with a limit of charge fixed at one-fourth the 
assessed valuation, any excess being paid out of 
the municipal revenues. There is no limit now,* 
but even with the advantage f^iven property 
owners under the old law, they protested bit- 
terly, and the board room of the Board of 
Public Improvements, as well as the committee 
rooms of the two branches of the Municipal 
Assembly, and even the mayor's ofiice itself, 
heard arguments which echoed in sentiment 
and purpose the still prevailing conservatism. 

But the pavements which were good enough 
for Old St. Louis were not suitable in any re- 
spect for New St. Louis, and common sense 
won again. As the business streets were paved 
with granite, so did the standing of the city 
improve. History shows that, almost invari- 
ably, good roads and civilization have gone 
hand in hand; and the. moral and commercial 
influence of good streets in St. Louis has been 
astounding. Whether the new era was the re- 
sult of their being constructed, or whether their 
construction was an incident to the new era, 
this deponent sayeth not. 

In the same line of thought it is difficult to 
distinguish cause and effect in regard to the 
phenomenal increase in the extent and, im- 
portance of the city's manufnctures. Certain it 
is that coincident with the commencement of 
work on the granite streets and with the build- 
ing of Exposition Hall, the manufacturing inter- 
est had an awakening far too solid and lasting to 
be looked upon or spoken of as a " boom. ' ' Ne \v 
factories and ofSce-buildings began to be erected, 
old ones were remodeled and enlarged, and 
" angels of commerce " were sent out to do mis- 
sionary work in fields never before invaded by 
St. Louis houses. As rapid transit opened up 
new territory for homes, this good work con- 



*The validity of the Stone Law, abolishing the 25 per 
cent limit, was being tried in the courts when this woik 
went to press. 



NEW ST. LOUIS. 



25 



TWO OUTSIDE OPINIONS 
ON THE 



tinned, and New St. Louis is to-day one of the 
most important manufacturing and distributing 
points in the world, leading in many lines and a 
good second in many more. 

So it will be seen that four distinct iufiuences 
combined to bring New St. Louis into existence 
about ten years ago. Fortunately, there was 
an abundance of youthful talent and energy to 
2)iIot the old into the new and to take advantage 
of opportunities as they arose; and, hence, we 
have to-day a city old only in its history, its 
solidity and integrit}-, and new in every other 
feature — in its buildings, its streets, its manu- 
factures, its commerce and its people. 

Julian Ralph, who 
is perhaps the best 

authoritv of the dec- 
CITVS NEW GROWTH. , . 

a d e on American 

cities, owing to the nature and extent of the 
special correspondence tours he has undertaken, 
has this to say of the transition or " new 
growth" of St. Louis: 

" St. Louis is the one large western city in 
which a man from our eastern cities would feel 
at once at home. It seems to require no more 
explanation than Boston would to a New Yorker 
or Baltimore to a Bostonian. It speaks for 
itself in a familiar language of street scenes, arch- 
itecture, and the faces and manners of the peo- 
ple. In saying this I make no comparison that 
is unfavorable to the other western cities, for it 
is not unfriendly to say that their most striking 
characteristic is their newness, or that this is 
lacking in St. Louis. And yet to-day St. Louis 
is new-born, and her appearance of age and of 
similarity to the eastern cities belies her. She 
is not in the least what she looks. Ten or 
a dozen years ago there began the operation of 
influences which were to rejuvenate her, to fill 
her old veins with new blood, to give her the 
momentum of the most vigorous western enter- 
prise. Six or seven years ago these began to 
bear fruit, and the new metropolitan spirit com- 
menced to throb in the veins of the old city. 
The change is not like the awakening of Rip 
Van Winkle, for the city never slept; it is rather 
the repetition of the case of that boy-god of 



mythology, whose slender form grew sturdy 
when his brother was born. It was the new 
life around the old that spurred it to sudden 
growth. ' ' ( Harper's A'c^u Monthly^ November, 
1892.) 

A year later the Springfield Democrat., com- 
menting editorially on a large real estate trans- 
action, said: " St. Louis has never in any sense 
been a 'boom' town, but there is not to-day a 
city in the country in better repute as a solid, 
progressive, financial, commercial and manufact- 
uring center, nor one which is making as rapid 
jDrogress in expansion of trade, in architectural 
supremacy, or in increase of population. To 
within fifteen years ago it was regarded as an 
ultra-conservative town that compromised its fu- 
ture by the rejection of adventitious aids that 
were seized upon by its windy competitor by the 
lakes, and was the target of jibes and standing 
comparisons that were a dead-weight when the 
present generation took the helm and overthrew 
tradition by the utilization of every legitimate 
opportunity that gave the promise of a better- 
ment. 

' ' The New St. Louis is an object lesson for 
the careful, and, possibly, profitable, considera- 
tion of other communities with greater or less 
aspirations. It has demonstrated that while 
conservatism is advantageous as breakwater, it 
is a positive injury as dam to enterprise, and 
that the maxim, ' nothing venture, nothing 
gain,' has its application in the building of cities 
as in tlie determination of the fortunes of indi- 
viduals." 

It was a favorite boast of 
the old regime that "St. 
Louis owns herself. ' ' In other 
words, the people gloried in 
the fact that local enterprises were supported 
exclusively by local capital. This fallacy has 
long since been exploded, and there is a realiza- 
tion of the fact that the more outside capital 
that is attracted to the city, the greater the ad- 
vantage to its mercantile and manufacturing in- 
terests. Since the civilized world has begun to 
appreciate the fact that New St. Louis is one 
of its most progressive and prosperous cities, 



FOREIGN CAPITAL 

AND 

ITS INFLUENCE. 



26 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



millions of outside capital have been attracted 
to it, and many of the most magnificent of the 
new buildings have been erected largely or in 
great part by eastern and even English money. 
The days of Chinese walls are over, and the city 
which earns for itself the confidence of the in- 
ternational financial world is the one that makes 
the most pronounced and prolonged improve- 
ment. Charity may begin at home, but it does 
not end there; and while the investment of local 
capital and accumulation is the first stepping- 
stone to municipal growth, the attraction of 
foreign capital for investment is indispensable 
in these days of competition and encroachment. 
Hence, while Old St. Louis was hampered by an 
excess of exclusiveness and an undue tendency 
to look with suspicion upon new enterprises 
from the outside. New St. Louis has sprung to 
the front and kept there, largely because it has 
attracted the attention, if not the envy, of the 
financial and mercantile world of two continents, 
and because of the impetus investment from the 
outside has given to almost every one of its in- 
dustries. 

When English gold was paid for a number of 
the breweries of which St. Louis had long been 
proud, there was considerable heartache in con- 
sequence. But the breweries remain where they 
were. They pay as large if not larger sums 
every week to St. Louis men to be spent at 
St. Louis stores, and for all practical purjioses the 
city derives as much benefit from the industry 
as ever. True, the idea of the profits crossing 
the ocean in the shape of dividend warrants is 
the reverse of pleasant, but the local investment 
of the foreign purchase-money proved so advan- 
tageous in every way, and gave such an impe- 
tus to local building, that a great many dividends 
will have to be paid before St. Louis will lose 
one tithe of what it gained. And although 
there are not wanting those who regret the plac- 
ing of municipal bonds in London during the 
current 3'ear, there are hundreds more who re- 
joice in the evidence furnished of the city's ex- 
cellent credit abroad, and who also recognize 
the fact that had the bonds been subscribed for 
locally, just so much money must have been 



withdrawn from the home loaning capital, to 
the probable curtailment of local enterprise and 
business. In short, it is not an iinmixed bless- 
ing for a city to own itself, and the recognition 
of this fact has proved of incalculable benefit to 
New St. Louis in its fight for commercial su- 
premacy — a fight which has been so overwhelm- 
ingly successful, and which is still being waged 
so gloriously and so well. 

The preceding chapter closed with a brief 
chronological summary of events in Old St. 
Louis. This chapter cannot close more appro- 
priately than with the record of some of the 
"footprints in the sands of time" madebv New 
St. Louis. Each footprint marks a stride to- 
wards improvement and perfection; a casting 
aside of things that were, and a pressing for- 
ward to things that are to be. Reference is 
only made to distinct and absolute reforms, or 
movements in the direction of reform. 
188L 

Commercial and Mercantile clubs established. 
1882. 

Agitation for granite streets commenced. 

First extensive street illumination. 
1883. 

Exposition and IMusic Hall Association incor- 
porated. 

Active work commenced on repaving down- 
town streets with granite. 
1884. 

First franchise granted for rapid transit (Ca- 
ble and Western). 

Opening of Exposition Building, and first an- 
nual Exposition. 

188.5. 

Ground l^rokeu for first lofty fire-proof offiae 
building. 

1886. 

First cable road operated. 

Union Depot Company formed. 

General activity commenced in building asso- 
ciations. 

1887. 

Streets first sprinkled by municipal contracts. 

Charter ol)tained for second bridge across the 
Mississippi at St. Louis. 



MANUFACTURES. 



27 



St. I^ouis made a central reserve city for 
national banks of other cities. 
1888. 

Work commenced on new Water-works, ca- 
pacity 100, ()()(), OOO gallons daily. 

General movement inaugurated to build freight 
depots on this side of river for eastern roads. 
1889. 

Merchants' Bridge constructed. 

First electric cars successfully operated. 

Largest electric arc light works in the world 

constructed. 

1890. 

Merchants' Bridge opened for traffic. 
Foundation-stone of new City Hall laid. 
Streets and alleys lighted by electricity. 

1891. 
First county electric road constructed. 
New Mercantile Club Building commenced. 
St. lyouis Trafhc Commission organized. 
Work commenced on new Union Station. 
Autumnal Festivities Association formed, and 
more than $500,000 subscribed. 



1892. 

Work commenced on New Planters' House, 
$2,000,000 hotel. 

Sixteen million dollars appropriated by Con- 
gress for improvement of Mississippi river. 

First postal street railroad car run in the United 
States on a St. Louis electric railroad. 

New buildings erected with a total frontage 
of thirty-nine miles. 

Grand Columbian street illumination. 

Smoke Abatement Association formed. 

1893. 

Electric street car system completed, and last 
horse car run down-town. 

Legislation against black and gray smoke, and 
first prosecutions under the ordinance. 

National financial uneasiness. No bank or 
other failures in St. Louis. 

City four per cent renewal bonds placed in 
London at par. 

Largest Union Railroad Station in the world 
jDractically completed. 



CHAPTER III. 

MANUFACTURES. 

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE IMMENSE IMPORTANCE OF THE MANUFACTURING INTERESTS OF 

NEW ST. LOUIS. 



JT HAS BEEN asserted by political econo- 
mists of every school, that production is 
the only actual and reliable source of 
wealth. Every nation that has attained 
eminence of a permanent character has 
done so by and with the aid of its manu- 
factures; and every country which has gained 
temporary precedence by any other means has 
found its glories transitory and its supremacy 
short-lived. Statesmen and philosophers have 
differed as to the best means of encouraging 



home industries, but while the word "protec- 
tion" has acquired a political meaning, and 
has become a party watch- word, every party in 
every country claims that its policy is designed 
to foster manufacturing in its own territory, and 
to encourage the production of commodities of 
every description at home. Especially is this 
the case in a comparatively new country like the 
United States. In the early struggles of colon- 
ists and exiles, every luxury — including in the 
term many articles which habit has made nee- 



'28' 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



essaries of every-day life — had to be imported 
from older countries, and the rise of the nation 
in wealth and influence has been the immediate 
and direct result of the increase in its manufact- 
ures which, although slow at times, has always 
been continuous. Adam Smith and Stuart 
Mill, and indeed all authorities on political 
economy, have proved that manufacturing and 
greatness go hand in hand, and although the 
majority of our statesmen during the last quarter 
of a century, have favored measures at variance 
in detail with the theories of these authorities, 
the policy has invariably been to expedite man- 
ufacturing supremacy. 

And as it is with nations, so is it with cities. The 
"boom" towns of the West, which built up in a 
day, fell by the wayside almost as rapidly, because 
the growth was not the result of legitimate de- 
mand, and because the local manufacturing in- 
dustry was not extensive enough to warrant or 
maintain the growth. The solid substantial cities 
of the East have, on the other hand, held their own 
because of the practical monopoly they have en- 
joyed in the production of commodities called for 
by the entire country. St. Louis owes its unique 
prosperity to the same cause — to the immense- 
ness of its manufactures and the rapid increase in 
the amount of capital invested, wages paid, and 
goods produced. The influences alluded to in 
the preceding chapter made the manufacturing 
greatness of the city possible, and the greatness 
in turn has guaranteed the city a glorious future. 

Up to the time when New St. Louis reared 
its head and asserted itself over Old St. Louis, 
very little encouragement was offered to outside 
capital or capitalists; and in a number of in- 
stances enterprises of great value were in conse- 
quence lost to the city. But as the manufactur- 
ing public found that a new order of things pre- 
vailed, immigration of the most advantageous 
character set in. Firms and corporations came 
from other cities and infused new life and energy 
into our institutions, encouraging a spirit of 
friendly rivalry and adding immensely to the 
capacity and output. St. Louis is pre-eminently 
the best adapted city on the continent for man- 
ufacturing. Situated a short distance west and 



south of the center of population, it offers ad- 
vantages in the way of distribution second to no 
other city, and its magnificent railroad and river 
connections enable these advantages to be made 
the most of. Raw material of every description 
is close at hand, and coal, the great source of 
mechanical power, is abundant and cheap. The 
southern Illinois coal fields yield an unlimited 
supply of excellent coal, which is delivered to 
factories at prices which excite the envy of man- 
xifacturers located elsewhere. The price varies 
according to the side-track facilities and the 
length of the haul, but contracts are now being 
executed at prices as low as $1.:20, and even less, 
2)er ton. No other large manufacturing city can 
offer such inducements as this, and in most of 
them the cost of coal is at least twice as great. 
Only the manufacturer realizes what an impor- 
tant factor is the price of coal in his calculations, 
and the advantage which the cheap and good 
coal of St. Louis gives to the St. Louis producer 
over his competitors elsewhere. 

The output of the coal fields, which are so 
close to St. Louis that they are part and parcel 
of its manufacturing greatness, is enormous, 
amounting to thirty million tons annually. The 
receipts of coal at St. Louis for the last ten years, 
or since the city's awakening to the New St. 
Louis idea, are worth placing on record, because 
t!ie\' show what immense increase has been 
made in the consumption of the great power cre- 
ating article without which manufacturing can- 
not snccessfulh' be carried on. 





Hituminous Coal . 
Bushels. 


Anthracile Coal. 
Tons. 


Coke . 
Kushels. 


1883 


50,687,225 
52, .349 UOO 
53,387,064 
61,258,525 
66,.524,925 
67,676,875 
65,403,025 
69,477,225 
72,078,225 
82,302,228 


52,000 

62,000 

80,000 

70,000 

131,600 

136,600 

121,500 

124,335 

139,050 

187,327 


6,956,500 


1884 


3 190 150 


1885 


3,500,000 


1886 


5,463.950 


1887 A.. 

18SS 

1889 


9,584,350 
6,757,5.50 
8,646.200 


1890 


9,919 850 


1891 


6,924, 2.J0 


1892 


8,914,400 







There are many other influences which have 
combined to force New St. Louis to the front in 
this all-important feature. These will be found 



MAN UFA C TURES. 



29 



enlarged upon in other portions of this work. 
It will suffice here to show briefly to what 
eminence St. Louis has already attained as a 
manufacturing city. 

St. Louis has (i,000 factories. 

It has the largest shot tower in America. 

It has the largest iron jail factory in the world. 

It has the largest stamping plant in the coun- 
tiy. 

It manufactures more tobacco than any other 
city. 

It manufactures more chairs than any other 
city. 

Its sugar refineries include the largest in the 
world. 

It has the largest cracker factory in the 
world. 

It is first in the production of stoves and 
ranges. 

It has the largest woodenware factory in 
America. 

It produces more boots and shoes than au)- 
other city. 

It has the largest and best equipped brewery 
in America. 

It easily leads in the manufacture of saddlery 
and harness. 

The value of the product of ISSK) was double 
that of 18.S(). 

It is the fifth largest manufacturing city in the 
United States. 

It has the largest terra cotta factory in the 
United States. 

Its factory employes earn an average of about 
$200,000 a day. 

It leads in the manufacture of street cars of 
every description. 

It has the largest boot and shoe factory xinder 
one roof in the Union. 

It is the only western cit}- manufacturing 
silverware to any extent. 

Its reclining chairs are in use in railroad cars 
in ten different countries. 

It is the third largest furniture manufacturing 
city in the United States. 

Its factories find employment for one-sixth of 
the city's total population. 



It manufactures more coffins and caskets than 
any other city in the world. 

It has recently executed the largest order for 
steam railroad cars ever placed. 

It has the largest jeans factory in the United 
States, and probably in the world. 

It manufactures one-fourth of the entire to- 
bacco product of the United States. 

It manufactured street cars which are in daily 
use in England, Australia and Japan. 

Its monthly manufactured product is sold for 
sufficient to pay off the entire city debt. 

It is the fourth largest producer of men's 
clothing, and leads in the higher grades. 

It has the largest press brick, fire brick and 
sewer pipe factories in the United States. 

It is first in the manufacture of white lead, 
with the largest white lead factory in the world. 

It has a tobacco factory which has paid more 
government tax than any other factory in the 
Union. 

It is the home of the largest electric arc light 
plant and the largest incandescent station in 
America. 

Its millers manufacture more flour than those 
of any other city in the world, with but one 
exception. 

It manufactured more of the glass used in the 
World's Fair buildings than any other three 
cities combined. 

Its manufactures are more extensive than those 
of Kansas City, Omaha, Denver and San Fran- 
cisco combined. 

Its annual manufactured product, on a cash 
valuation, is twelve times as great as the city's 
bonded indebtedness. 

Its manufactured product is equal in value to 
over $400 per annum per inhabitant, including 
men, women and children. 

It is the greatest distributing point for agri- 
cultural machinery, and ranks among the larg- 
est manufacturing cities in this specialty. 

Its factory employes are 25 per cent more 
numerous than when the census was taken in 
1«;I0, as proved by the State Labor Commis- 
sioner's report, published early in the winter of 
1893. 



30 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



THE GAIN IN 

EASTERN CITIES DURING 

THE EIGHTIES. 



This list does not 
include ever}' indus- 
try or factory which 
is a record-breaker. 
It is rather typical than complete, and is given 
for the purpose of showing that when the state- 
ment is made that St. Louis is a manufacturing 
monarch, there is not even a suspicion of exag- 
geration. No other city in the world can claim 
such cosmopolitanism in its manufactures, and 
no other city can produce such a showing of 
excellence in such a vast number of varying lines 
and branches. Nor are the claims a mere 
matter of surmise. They are based upon actual 
facts and figures recorded in the census of ISiK) 
(Bulletin 170), and have hence the stamp of 
official confirmation. The progress made since 
the war has been both rapid and continuous. 
In 1860, St. Louis ranked ninth in the list of 
manufacturing cities. The returns for 1870 
were so notoriously inaccurate that they are 
worthless for purposes of comparison; but the 
year 1880 found St. Louis in the sixth place, 
with an annual product of $104,000,000. It was 
still led by New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn 
and Boston, in addition to which Chicago had 
risen to third place. Pittsburgh was entirely dis- 
tanced and Providence, Newark, Cincinnati and 
Baltimore were left far in the rear, St. Louis 
having made a growth of about 400 per cent 
for the twenty years as against their compara- 
tively small increases. 

Durins: the eio-hties the influence of New 
St. Louis made itself felt in a most decisive 
manner in its manufactures, and during the de- 
cade it made a greater increase than any of the 
great Eastern centers of manufacture. Thus the 
manufactured product doubled itself during the 
ten years, while the increase in New York was 
but fifty-six per cent, in Philadelphia seventy- 
two per cent, in Cincinnati sixty-seven per 
cent, and in Baltimore sixty-nine per cent. In 
the amount of capital invested a comparison is 
still more favorable to St. Louis, which made a 
gain of 180 per cent during the decade while 
the increase in New York, Philadelphia and 
Baltimore averaged 100 per cent, and the gain 



in Cincinnati was about seventy-seven per cent. 
These phenomenal gains easily placed St. Louis 
in the fifth place, Boston being overtaken in the 
race and only New York, Chicago, Philadelphia 
and Brooklyn left in front of New St. Louis in 
the race for manufacturing supremacy. 

Chicago still leads St. Louis in manufactures. 
It is not proposed in this work to go into details 
over the battle royal between the metropolis of 
the Northwest and the metropolis of the West 
and Southwest. The contest has been of so long 
duration and its discussion has become so tire- 
some in consequence of the almost innumerable 
charges and counter-charges made, that the sub- 
ject can profitably be ignored. The territory of 
each city is so different that there is ample room 
for both and while Chicago has derived immense 
advantage from the enormous growth of the 
new States in the Northwest, St. Louis has the 
benefit of the almost exclusive trade of the 
equally important and even more promising 
States of the West, Southwest and South. Omit- 
ting Chicago from the calculation, we find 
St. Louis by all odds the great manufacturing 
head of the West. The value if its product is 
almost twice as great as that of San Francisco, 
three times as large as that of Minneapolis, six 
times as large as that of Omaha, seven times as 
great as either vSt. Paul or Kansas City, eight 
times as large as Denver, twenty times as great 
as St. Joseph, and so much larger than that of 
any other Western manufacturing point as "to 
make calculations and comparisons impossible 
and percentage tedious. The value of the man- 
ufactured product of St. Louis is equal to the 
combined output of San Francisco, Denver, 
Omaha, Kansas City, St. Joseph and all other 
strictly Western cities. 

It is not desired to oc- 
cupy space with a multi- 
plicity of tables or com- 
ELEVENTH CENSUS. ^^^^^^^..^ but the census 

of 1890 being necessarily the basis upon which 
a treatise on the city's manufactures has to be 
based it is necessary to give a table showing the 
totals in the most important lines of industry. 
This is given on the following page: 



THE RECORD 
OF THE 



MANUFACTURES. 



31 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES IN ST. LOUIS, 

CENSUS OF 1890. 



INDUSTRIES. 


No. of 
Establish- 
ments. 


Capital 
Employed. 


Value of 
Product. 


Agricultural Iiiipl'mts 


4 


$ 686,484 


% 1,107,454 


Bags, Paper 


3 


174,425 


431,228 


Bak'g and Yeast Powdr 


14 


3;3,181 


403,77:i 


Blacksuiithing and 








Wheelwrighting 


219 


406,121 


898,177 


Bookbiuding aud Bl'iik 








Book Making 


14 


196 618 


336,227 


Boots and Shoes 


24 


4,170,0:i7 


4,250,961 


Bread aud other Bak- 








ery Products 


291 


1,244,167 


3,597,392 


Brick and Tile 


38 


2 53l,12cS 


1,691,692 


Carpentering 


407 


4,364 659 


10,364,922 


Carriages and Wagons 


114 


2,523,448 


3,603,735 


Cars (Railroad, Street 








and Repairs) . - 


24 


2 453 443 


5,641,252 


Chemicals 


16 


1,500,068 


2,672,749 


Clav and Pottery Pro- 








ducts 


13 


939,996 


899,855 




348 


5,765,150 


9,630,688 


Coffee aud Spices, 






Roast'g and Grind'g 


9 


816,688 


2,466,392 




48 


1 078 426 


2,462,037 


CooDerace 


71 


1,042,643 


1,912,779 


Flouring aud Grist 






21 


4 320 955 


12,641,000 


Foundry aud Machine 








Shop Products 


103 


10,184,926 


11,945,493 


Furniture, Upholster- 










121 


3 108,211 


4,658,546 
838 930 


Glass 


5 


842 354 


Iron and Steel 


6 


2,655,199 


2,513,761 


Irou Works, Architect- 








ural and Ornamental 


23 


1,732,748 


2,023,526 


Leather, Tanned and 








Curried 


15 


682,7.53 


1,502,680 


Liquors, Malt 


8 


15,910,417 


16,18»,560 


Lumber and other Mill 








Products aud Logs . 


/ 


2,766,012 


1,689,832 


Lumber, Planing Mill 








Products 


23 


1,860,036 


3,061,178 


Masonry, Brick aud 








Stoue 


160 
3 


4,436,578 
1.018,562 


9,122,952 


Oil, Linseed 


1,438,201 


Painting and Paper 








Hanging 


331 


867,194 


2,841,041 




14 


3,498,107 


3,163,818 


Patent Medicines and 






Compounds 


58 


1,601,999 


2,196,416 


Plumbers' Materials ... 


4 


1,280,486 


1,465,371 


Plumb'g and Gasfit'g., 


124 


581,067 


1,651,169 


Print'g and Publish'g 


213 


5,192,065 


8,551,349 


Saddlery and Harness 


110 


2,160,963 


2,803,961 


Slaughtering and Meat 








Packing 


60 


3 274 671 


12 047 316 




10 


806,301 


1,203,406 


Tin smithing. Copper 








smithing and Sheet 








Irou Working 


132 


1,1 32,. 588 


2,369,540 


Tobacco, Chewing, 








Smoking aud Snuff 


12 


3,894,320 


14,354,165 


Tobacco, Cigars and 








Cigarettes 


296 


787,520 


1,558 401 


All other Industries 


2,632 


3-5,915588 


54,515,383 


Total, 1890 


6,148 


5140,775,392 


1228,714,317 


Total, 1880 


2,924 


1 50,832,885 


j!l 14,333,375 





The exact percentage of increase in the vari- 
ous features is best ascertained by deducting 
several minor industries not inchided in the 
returns for 1880, which leaves the figures as 
follows: 



Number of establish- 
ments reported 

Number of hands em- 
ployed 

Capital invested 

Miscellaneous expenses.. 

Wages paid 

Cost of materials used 

Value at factory of goods 
manufactured 



1890. 



5.453 

90,966 

$133,292,699 

17,381,274 

62,170..536 

120,887,355 

225,500,657 



1880. 



2,924 

41,825 
$50,832,885 



17,743. .532 

75,379,867 

114,333.375 



Per cent 

of 
increase 



86.49 

117.49 
162.22 

194.03 
60.37 

97.23 



The great reduction of i:)rices in almost every 
line accounts for the fact that although capital 
and wages show an increase of l(i2 and 194 per 
cent, the value of the product only increased 97 
per cent. In actual weight and bulk the in- 
crease was far greater. 

The way in which St. Louis has gained on 
the largest eastern manufacturing cities during 
the last thirty years, is shown by the following 
comparisons of the value of annual product: 



New York . 



18(i0 
1890 



Philadelphia . \ , j,(' 



8«0 
1890 



Cincinnati 



Boston. 



Brooklyn 



Baltimore. . 



Pittsburgh. 



St. Louis . 



18(50 
1890 

/ 18(i0 
\ 1890 

[ 18(iO 
\ 1890 

18(;0 
18<)0 

f 1860 
\ 1890 

18(J0 
1890 



$l(iO,000,000 
770,000,000 

135,000,000 
577,000,000 

47,000,000 
196,000,000 

37,000,000 
210,000,000 

34,000,000 
269,000,000 

29,000,000 
141,000,000 

26,000,000 
126,000,000 

27,000,000 
228,000,000 



In 1860 the seven large eastern cities manu- 
factured seventeen times as much as St. Louis; 
in 1890 St. Louis products equaled one-tenth 
the total for the seven cities combined. 

Since 1860 the manufacturing output of the 



32 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



seven eastern cities has increased less than 500 
percent; dnring the same period the increase 
in St. Lonis has been nearly one tliousand per 
cent. 

A glance at these figures shows how iniposible 
it is to exaggerate the greatness of the city in 
the important detail of manufactures. It will 
be observed that the percentage of increase in 
the number of establishments reported, the 
number of hands employed, the capital invested, 
the wages paid, the cost of material used, and 
the value of the product varied from sixty to 
nearly two hundred per cent, with an average 
of over l.')0 per cent. It will also be noted that 
the greatest increase was in wages paid, a fact 
which has a great deal to do with the popularity 
of St. Louis manufactures. St. Louis has always 
been noted for the high grade of workmanship 
its products display, and this is the result in 
large measure of the care exercised in its selec- 
tion of mechanics, and the inducements offered 
them over and above those held forth in other 
cities. The sweating system is practically un- 
known in St. Louis, which is also noted through- 
out the entire country for the excellence of its 
manufacturing plants and the modernness of its 
machiner}'. 

It would be interesting, if space permitted, to 
trace in detail the causes which have led to the 
center of American manufacturing lea\ing the 
Atlantic States, but this would hardly come 
within the province of an article of this char- 
acter. One great reason for the growth of man- 
ufactures of every kind is the marvelous increase 
in population and wealth of the district of which 
St. Louis is the commercial and financial me- 
tropolis. This will be found more fully enlarged 
upon in the chapter relating to St. Louis as a 
commercial metropolis and distributing point, 
and it need only be said here that rapid as has 
been the increase of the city's manufactures, it 
has continued to act as a distributing point for 
other manufacturing centers, and that in many 
lines its jobbers actually import more goods 
from other centers than in the days when our 
manufacturing output was comparatively insig- 
nificant. 



TWO WAYS OF ^^y^'^tevinthcNewEn^/and 

Alamzine in Tanuarv, 1892, 
LOOKING AT * . , , , 

speaking of the marvelous 

PLAIN FiaURES. , • i u c^ t • • 

showing made by St. Louis in 

the census returns which had just been made 
public, says, with a lingering remembrance of 
the Old St. Louis idea, and with evident danger 
of being classed as a town boomer or an extrav- 
agant writer: 

" I now come to speak of the great activity 
which absorbed the working strength and ener- 
gies of our people. The situation of St. Louis, 
at the junction or two great rivers and at the 
head of deep-water navigation, naturally sug- 
gests trade rather than manufacture, yet, even 
now, it is pre-eminently a manufacturing city. 
The reports of the tenth and eleventh censuses 
furnish figures which indicate in a most em- 
phatic manner the growth and tendency of the 
city in the direction of manufacture during the 
past ten years. I dare not quote those fig- 
ures here — they make a showing so extravagantly 
favorable as to suggest criticism. It is probable 
that the business statistics for 1880 and those 
for 18!K) were compiled in very different ways, 
and that comparison should be made with cau- 
tion." 

This rather reminds one of the story of the 
l)oy, who, coming home from school with a very 
favorable report of his year's work, handed it 
to his father with an apology for being at the 
head of his class, explaining that the remainder 
of the boys were inclined to be indifferent, and 
that it was doubtful whether the system of 
marking and awarding prizes was good enough 
to be accepted as final proof of the superiority of 
those at the top of the class, or the intellectual 
inferiority or indifference of those at the bottom. 
In striking contrast to this self-abnegation and 
pessimism is tlie explanation which Mr. Robert 
P. Porter, Superintendent of the Eleventh Ceu- 
sus, thought proper to add to the first informa- 
tion ever given out concerning the results of the 
industrial census of 1890. In an address before 
the Commercial Club, on November 21st, 1891, 
Mr. Porter went very fully into the returns, a 
synopsis of which he had brought with him 



MAN UFA C rURES. 



33 



from Washington, and concluded a thoron_<jlily 
conservative and logical argument with this 
peroration: 

" Have we not here in the tables which indi- 
cate the story of ten years of municipal indus- 
trial and commercial progress of a great center 
of population many things which an organiza- 
tit)n such as the Commercial Club of St. Louis 
can rejoice and feel proud over ? In ten years 
you ha\-e added over a hundred thousand to }-our 
citN' population, an increase of nearly thirty per 
cent ! The mileage of railroads tributary to 
your city has gone from 35,000 to 57,000 miles, 
an increase of sixty-one per cent, while the 
mileage centering in the city has increased over 
10,000 miles, and is now more than 25,000 
miles. You received in 18!tO 15,000,000 tons of 
freight, an increase of 6,400,000 tons over 
1(S80. In spite of the change from water to 
rail, 3'our waterways are still a source of profit 
and can be nuade still more so. Over 170,000,000 
has sought investment in new industry since 
1880. Over 44,000 additional artisans have 
l)een given employment, making a total of about 
8fi,000 engaged in manufacturing occupations. 
You are distributing annually nearly $50,000,000 
in wages, and have increased your pay-rolls 
$30,000,000 since 1880. The value of the 
manufactured product has grown from about 
$114,000,000 to nearly $214,000,000, a gain of a 
cool hundred million dollars. And in the fact 
that the number of children employed in your 
industry has decreased can be discerned humane 
sentiment with this increased prosperity. Your 
nuinicipal finance is sound; your debt is decreas- 
ing, and your wealth is $141,000,000 greater 
than when the last national inventory was 
taken. 

"These are the simple official facts. They are 
not presented with local coloring, but the data 
had been collected by government agents under 
the strict rules which apply to all other com- 
munities, and for comparison with all other 
cities rmder a system, the tendency of which 
must necessarily be to understatement rather 
than overstatement. Within a few days you, 
as citizens of this fair and progressive city and 



of the United States, will be called upon to give 
thanks for the numerous blessings which Al- 
mighty God has bestowed upon the people of 
this country. Is it presuming too much to ven- 
ture the suggestion that the continued pros- 
perity of your own city, as shown by the elev- 
enth census, should come in for at least a share 
of your gratitude, and that you may view with 
a spirit of fairness a census that has announced 
to the world such gratifying facts about the 
great Southwestern river city of the American 
Continent?" * 

This quotation, from what may be described 
as an official speech by a thoroughly imjsartial 
government official, should surely be accepted 
as proof positi\e that the figures relating to the 
manufactures of St. Louis, as published in the 
eleventh census, may be relied upon. If any- 
thing, they understate rather than overstate the 
increase in the manufacturing importance of 
St. Louis, because it is a notorious fact that a 
higher standard was adopted in deciding what 
was and was not a manufacturing establishment. 
Thus while many small workshops and factories 
were omitted from the calculations of 1890, in 
1880 very little discrimination was used, and 
the 2,!»24 establishments then reported included 
some far below the standard adopted ten years 
later. But the census returns for I8i)0 show 
how marvelously the New St. Louis idea had 
taken hold of the city, and how success already 
achieved was acting as an inducement for fur- 
ther effort. The St. Louis GIohc-Deinocrat^ 
commenting editorially on Mr. Porter's speech, 
said: 

"The truth is, St Louis has only just begun 
to improve her opportunities and to realize upon 
the profits that logically belong to her. She 
possesses certain advantages that cannot be 
taken away from her by any act of hostility, 
and she is learning how to make the best prac- 
tical use of them. There are no lurking dan- 



* Mr. Porter spoke from the draft returns, several weeks 
before their final revision and publication. Hence his fig- 
ures differ slightly from those in the official bulletin, the 
latter being more favorable to St. Louis than those quoted 
by the Superintendent and upon which he calculated his 
perceutages. 






OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



geis in her financial and commercial system. It 

is entirely sound and equal to all emeryencies. 

There will be a continuance of past success, 

with new triumphs of skill and energy. The 

progress of St. Louis, in short, is one of the 

fixed facts of American civilization, and her 

citizens have every reason to be satisfied and 

grateful." 

Passing from St. Louis 
ST. LOUIS BOOT , '^ 

manufactures generally to 

the various lines in which 
SHOE FACTORIES, ^j^^ ^^^^^ remarkable prog- 

ress has been made, and in which St. Louis 
most particularly excels, it is natural to deal 
first with shoes, because in this line the gain 
has been phenomenal. Old St. Louis made 
very few shoes, and during the seventies little 
advance was made in this industry. At that 
time New England had a practical monopoly in 
shoe manufacturing, and the idea of the west 
producing a rival to Boston and Lynn had never 
been thought of. Now, however, St. Louis has 
the largest shoe factory under one roof in the 
country, with others almost as large and as well 
equipped, and it manufactures more shoes than 
any other single city in the Union. The accu- 
racy of this assertion has been challenged, and 
it is undoubtedly true that Boston is still tlie 
greatest distributing point for boots and shoes 
in America, and probably in the world. But 
Boston is situated in the midst of a shoe manu- 
facturing district, and by actual count it docs 
not produce witliin its city limits as many shoes 
as its once despised but now powerful western 
rival. 

In 1<S80 there were 184 establishments in St. 
Louis devoted to the manufacture of boots and 
shoes. The capital invested was less than 
$700,000, and the number of men employed 
was only 658, with 217 girls and 197 children. 
The aggregate product was about $1,(500,000. 
It will thus be seen that the average number of 
men per factory was less than four, and that the 
annual value of the product was less than $10,000 
per establishment. It is evident from these fig- 
ures that the bulk of the establishments reported 
were practically retail stores with a custom- 



made connection, and, indeed, there were not in 
St. Louis at that time any large factories in the 
18!i;3 sense of the term. To-day we have one 
factory selling three times as many shoes as the 
total product for the year 1880, and at least ten 
which will each exceed that total within a very 
short period. In 1882 St. Louis manufactured 
less than half a million pair of shoes, but about 
this period there was a distinct awakening, and 
in 188(3 about a million and a quarter pairs were 
made, valued at about $2,000,000. For the 
next four years the increase was rapid, and when 
the census was taken again in 18!lO the value of 
the product was found to have increased to 
$4,250,SM;1, an increase over the figures of 1880 
so enormous as to make the most indifferent 
wonder. 

We have seen that 1880 the average number 
of men per factory was less than four, and that 
the annual value of the product averaged less 
than ten thousand dollars to each establishment. 
In 1890 the average number of hands per fac- 
tory was one hundred, and the average product 
of each factory was nearly $140,000. The cus- 
tom work and repairing' shops, which were 
classed as factories in 1880, were returned sep- 
arately in 1890 and numbered 477. It will be 
seen from these figures that the census enume- 
rators in 1880 were much more lenient and less 
exacting than those of 1890, and that during the 
ten years St. Louis practically established what 
may be termed a wholesale shoe manufacturing 
industry, and brought it into the first rank' 
Since the census was taken in 1890 the output 
has more than doubled. New factories, magni- 
ficent in elevation and marvelous in internal ar- 
rangement and equipment, have been erected 
every year, and these have enabled the city to 
outstrip more competitors. To-day the monthly 
output is larger than the annual output twelve, 
if not ten, years ago. In other words vSt. Louis 
is manufacturing boots and shoes worth a mill- 
ion dollars every month in the year, and is add- 
ing to its capacity with a regularity and 
persistency which indicates that before the 
end of tlie present century it will ha\-e at- 
tained an eminence in this line which will 



MANUFACTURES. 



35 



make it the great manufactnrino: and distribut- 
ing point of the bulk of the American continent. 
Its factories are a subject of general admiration, 
and are to be classed among the attractions 
which excite the admiration and surprise of 
visitors from every section of the Union. 

St. Louis-made boots and shoes are in demand 
all over the western and southwestern terri- 
tory, and they are shipped in very large num- 
bers to all points, quite a large number of cases 
going east and north every month. The shoes 
have a reputation for durability and style. 
Comjieting cities have sometimes stated that 
St. Louis shoes are of a heavy type, and that 
only the agricultural and laboring demand is 
catered for. This is entirely erroneous. Boots 
and shoes suitable for out-of-door work are made 
in St. Louis and are of the highest grade, but 
lighter and more elegant kinds are also produced 
in immense quantities. St. Louis-made shoes 
obtained the highest awards at the World's Fair, 
and orders are received from connoisseurs as far 
away as San Francisco and Montreal. Strange 
to say a comparatively small percentage of the 
local retail trade is supplied from St. Louis fac- 
tories. There are various trade reasons for this 
which time only can overcome. The president 
of one of the largest shoe manufacturing corpo- 
rations in the city, on being asked why it is so 
difficult to obtain a single pair of the remarkably 
fine shoes his house was producing in such large 
quantities, said : 

"This is a characteristic of the shoe trade all 
over the world. Shoe dealers carry more coals 
to Newcastle, to quote the favorite English 
expression, than any other trade. We ship 
immense quantities of shoes to cities which have 
large factories of their own, and while we are 
sending out cases by the thousand, we still 
handle large shipments frour New England. 
We have never encouraged a local trade for our 
manufactured product, because we have found 
outside trade pays the best. If we were to sup- 
ply the retail stores direct, we would have 
errand boys and clerks, at all hours of the day, 
asking for individual pairs of shoes of special 
size and grade. As it is, our orders are much 



ISBN'S 
CLOTHING. 



more wholesale in character and suit the exi- 
gencies of our trade much better." 

The men's clothing manu- 
facture of St. Louis is, at least, 
ten times as extensive as is 
generally supposed. Centralization is the pol- 
icy in the shoe trade and it is quite easy to 
appreciate the work that is done by the magnif- 
icent factories which greet the eye on every 
side; decentralization is the invariable policy of 
the clothing manufacturer, who, instead of hav- 
ing all his departments under one roof and close 
at hand, finds it more profitable to give out his 
work in sections to smaller factories or shops, 
which make specialties of various lines of work. 
This plan prevails in St. Louis, as elsewhere, 
and hence there is very little to indicate that 
the value of the product is already largely in 
excess of ten millions per annum and increasing 
rapidly. It is to the credit of the St. Louis 
clothing trade that little or no shoddy goods are 
made in the Southwestern metropolis. Woolen 
goods of varying grades are chiefly made, large 
quantities of cloth being imported from the Euro- 
pean markets, mostly coming direct in bond 
to the port of St. Louis. Special attention is 
paid to cut and finish, and St. Louis clothes 
are shipped to those markets which appreciate 
a high grade of goods. 

Mention has already been made of the fact 
that the sweating system is discountenanced in 
St. Louis. In no other line of industry is this 
fact so apparent as in men's clothing. From 
time to time exposures have been made of the 
disease-breeding hovels in which home work in 
the clothing trade is performed in the large 
cities of the East and of Europe. Careful in- 
vestigations by labor commissioners, philanthro- 
pists and others have failed to reveal a single 
instance in St. Louis where this dangerous sys- 
tem prevails. The business is in the hands 
of men of exceptional intelligence and integ- 
rity, and it is their special care that every 
garment given out by them shall be made and 
completed in a properly constructed and venti- 
lated room. The clothing trade generally ap- 
preciates this policy, which is in a large measure 



36 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



FURNITURE AND 
CHAIRS. 



responsible for the ever-increasing ijopularit}' of 
St. Louis-inade clothes. 

In fnrther evidence of the high grade of the 
product in this line, it may be stated that ship- 
ments are made to States as far remo\-ed from 
St. Louis as Georgia, California and Washing- 
ton. An interesting contest has been goins: on 
for years between New York and St. Louis for 
the trade of Texas. It is now practical]}- o\'er, 
St. Louis having well-nigh driven its eastern 
competitor from the field. The increase in tlie 
orders from this and other Southwestern States 
are causing phenomenal growth in the St. Louis 
clothing trade. Already the cit)- has the largest 
jeans factory in America, and projects are in 
contemplation which will give it equal jaromi- 
nence in other branches of this industr\-. 

Among the other indus- 
tries which nuiy be classed 
as domestic in character, 
the furniture manufacture of St. Louis must be 
specially mentioned as typifying the exceptional 
growth of the city's commercial interests. Its 
steady and continuous growth is due largely to 
the excellent work done by the St. Louis Fur- 
niture Board of Trade, one of the most useful 
trade organizations in the city. Mr. George T. 
Parker, Secretary of the Board, expresses the 
situation very accurately when he savs: "Up to 
ten years ago St. Louis was not known as much 
of a furniture manufacturing city; now it is one 
of the foremost. Within ten years this indus- 
try has increased over a hundred per cent. The 
advance of the city in all lines during the last 
decade has been partly responsible for this; but 
to the aggressive and progressive nature of the 
men who managed this branch of industry is due 
the present business of fully twenty millions." 

It is only necessary to glance at the census 
returns of 1880 to see how phenomenal has been 
the growth of this business. There were in that 
year but seventy-two establishments, employing 
about one thousand hands, to wdiona were paid 
about half a million dollars a }'ear in wages. 
Now the number of establishments is at least 
one hundred and fifty, the number of men em- 
ployed is considerably in excess of three thou- 



sand, and the annual disbursement in wages is 
more than two millions. These figures include 
the chair factories, which are even more remark- 
able in their growth and individuality than the 
establishments devoted to the production of fur- 
niture of various kinds. Especially in reclining 
chairs for railroads has St. Louis made itself 
famous; and contracts involving thousands of 
dollars in this line alone are constantly being 
placed in the city, in which several valuable 
patents are owned. 

The exceptional ad\'antages of St. Louis as 
a lumber — especially hardwood — market, have 
helped to bringthe city from obscurity to promi- 
nence in the matter of furniture manufacture, and 
its central location also helps it to gain on 
its competitors. It now occupies at least third 
rank in manufacturing cities, and if the pres- 
ent rate of progress is maintained it will soon 
lead the entire country. Car loads of fur- 
niture are shipped in every direction, and the 
high reputation which the product of the city 
has made for itself throughout the entire United 
States, and al.so in Mexico, makes it compara- 
tively easy to obtain orders even in districts upon 
which other manufacturing cities claim an iron- 
clad mortgage. 

The Furniture Board of Trade is entitled to 
more than a passing notice. Its work has been 
of a most valuable character, and one of its 
latest achievements was the securing of the 
National Furniture Convention for St. Louis in- 
1893. It maintains a credit department, which 
has proved of immense value, and it has made its 
influence felt in national legislation on more oc- 
casions than one. From reports issued by tliis 
body it is shown that more chairs are made by 
three St. Louis factories than by all the factories 
combined in any other city in the countr)*. 
In kitchen safes it makes more than all the 
rest of the United States; and the spring bed 
industry is remarkably large. The railroad 
car chairs already referred to are being used in 
cars and " coaches " in India, Russia, England, 
Australia and South America, and the Board of 
Trade is now in negotiation with other countries 
not generally looked upon as accessible, but 



MANUFACTURES. 



37 



IRON AND KINDRED 
INDUSTRIES. 



which offer a magnificent market. Among the 
accessories to the furniture trade which are 
specially prominent, may be mentioned the man- 
ufacture of coffins and caskets, in which St. Louis 
easily leads the entire country. 

It is difficult to estimate 
the actual extent of the 
iron and kindred indus- 
tries of St. Louis, owing to the fact that the 
number of branches is so great that the figures 
are necessarily freely subdivided. Under the 
head of "Iron and Steel" the census returns six 
large establisliments, with a total capital em- 
ployed of a little over $2,500,000, and with an 
output about as large. This, however, does not 
begin to cover the local trade, for under the 
head of "Architectural and Ornamental Iron 
Work," there is found the record for LSDO of 
twenty-three establishments, emplo)-iug a capi- 
tal of §1,700, ()()(), and with a total output of 
about $2,000,000. Under "Foundry and Ma- 
chine Shop Products," the record is still greater, 
the figures for ISilO showing that there were 103 
establishments in operation, with a capital of 
upwards of $10,000,000, and with a total pro- 
duct of about $12,000,000. To produce this, 
over 6,000 men were employed, and their earn- 
ings for the one year appro.ximated $4,000,000. 
Even under the head of "Bolts, Nuts, Wash- 
ers and Rivets," four establishments are re- 
corded, with a capital of more than a quarter of 
a million, and an output of similar value; and it 
would appear as though $20,000,000 would be a 
small estimate of the total product in the iron 
and steel and kindred industries, which find 
employment for millions of dollars of capital 
and for an almost unlimited amount of labor. 
In liS80, Governor Johnson, in an address before 
the vState Immigration Convention, spoke of St. 
Louis as the "Center of the W^orld's trade, the 
future metropolis of the World's Empire, the 
favored child of the mighty Valley of the Mis- 
sissippi, the City of the Iron Crown." Since 
that time great progress has been made in the 
iron and steel industry throughout the countr)-, 
and although, perhaps, the gain has not been 
so phenomenal as the eloquent speaker desired 



or anticipated, yet it has been great enough to 
more than justify his remarks. Certain it is, 
that within easy distance of St. Louis there is 
an abundance of iron ore sufficient to supply the 
requirements of the world for generations to 
come, with every indication of still greater un- 
discovered supplies. The unlimited supplies of 
coal, timber and water-power, and other similar 
aids to manufactures of this character, make it 
appear probable that St. Louis will eventuall)- 
outpace all competitors in the race and become 
the leader in iron, as in other industries. 

St. Louis commenced the manufacture of iron 
nearly eighty years ago, and although the pro- 
duction was on a very limited scale it had the 
effect of introducing other work of a similar 
character. Foundries came to be erected, and 
many thousands of wagon-boxes and tires were 
manufactured here during the first quarter of 
the present century. Foundries on a larger 
scale were established about the year 18o0, and 
long before the middle of the century the city 
had assumed quite an activity in the iron trade. 
Agricultural implements, and everything in 
which iron was used to any large extent, began 
to be manufactured in large quantities, and 
about the year 1850 the magnificent resources 
of the Iron Mountain began to be appreciated. 
The splendid furnaces and rolling mills belong- 
ing to the Chouteau family began to exert an 
influence over the city's trade, and in 185(i a 
careful estimate showed the existence in the 
city of as many as thirty iron works, with a 
total output of about $5,000,000. The amount 
of pig metal mined and produced at this early 
period exceeded 100,000 tons a year, and all 
through the sixties and seventies the business 
was pressed to full advantage. 

In agricultural machinery St. Louis is well to 
the front, and many of its specialties are in demand 
in very remote centers. Some of the largest fac- 
tories in this line to be found in the entire 
country are situated in St. Louis, and the high 
standard of work, in every detail, keeps up 
the demand. Travelers through Mexico have 
been struck with the very general use in that 
country of agricultural machinery made in 



38 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



RAILROAD SUPPLIES 

AND 

STREET CARS. 



St. Louis; and in all parts of the rich agricultural 
country in St. Louis territory, the products of 
our local factories are appreciated at their full 
worth. As soon as more intimate trade rela- 
tions with Mexico and the Spanish-American 
republics are encouraged by a mutual reduction 
of tariffs, a further immense impetus will be 
given to this business, and St. Louis will easily 
maintain its position as a manufacturing point 
for agricultural machinery of every kind. In 
carriages and wagons, which are in a measure 
connected with this industry, St. Louis has been 
prominent and famous for years, and the increase 
in its output since the census of 1880 has been 
a subject of general comment in trade circles 
everywhere. 

In cars of every de- 
scription, the city is a 
producer on a thorough- 
ly wholesale plan. Its 
railroad supply houses execute orders from rail- 
roads with headquarters in cities many miles 
distant, and the output of cars, both freight and 
passenger, is very large. It is an interesting 
fact to record that, within the last two years, 
one of the prominent factories has executed a 
larger order for cars than was ever given, at one 
time, to any other factory in America. The 
growth in this industry has been stupendous. 
It is estimated that the value of the output dur- 
ing the year 18!)2 exceeded $8,000,000, and this 
is probably correct, although, if accessories were 
added, the total would be much larger. The 
census of 1880 only recorded the existence of 
seven establishments in this line, which were 
credited with employing a capital of some 
$314,000, and with having (501 men on their 
pay-rolls. The value of the output was placed 
at a little over a million dollars. In l.S!M) 
twenty-four firms were returned in the govern- 
ment census, their combined capital was stated 
at $2,500,000, and the number of men and boys 
on their pay-rolls approximated 3,000. They 
paid, in wages alone, nearly twice the sum total 
of the product of 1880, and the total result of 
the year's work was placed at a trifle less than 
$G, 000, 000. These figures are very conserva- 



ti\'e, and the estimate for 18;»2 is much more 
nearly accurate than the official rtcord for 1890. 

In the manufacture of street cars St. Louis 
easily leads the world. Prior to the war the 
city turned out large numbers of passenger- 
carrying vehicles, and even during the war a 
very extensive stage-coach, omnibus and transfer 
business was done here. At the close of the 
war a fresh impetus was given to the business, 
and for the first time St. Louis vehicles began 
to acquire prominence in the country. Other 
large western cities commenced to manufacture 
omnibuses and similar vehicles, but they did 
not possess either equal ad\-antages or similar 
enterprise, and St. Louis soon forged to the 
front and secured a foremost position, which it 
has held ever since. Mechanics of ability were 
attracted here, and, when late in the sixties an 
improved type of street cars was produced, at- 
tention was attracted from all parts, and the new 
type of vehicle came to be regarded as a stand- 
ard one. During the fifteen or twenty years 
which followed, street cars of every description 
were manufactured here, and improvements of 
every character were introduced. The demand 
for bobtail cars was met by tUe manufacture of 
these somewhat unsatisfactory vehicles, and so 
many St. Louis improvements were introduced 
that they lost much of their original unpopu- 
larity. 

The introduction into St. Louis of rapid 
transit, some six or eiglit years ago, led to another- 
marked revival in this industry, and the re- 
sources of the establishments were soon taxed to 
their utmost to meet the demands of the ener- 
getic street railway presidents, who insisted on 
getting the best of everything, regardless of 
price. Some of the cars in use on local street 
railroads at the present time are unequaled, and, 
indeed, scarcely imitated in any other city, and 
so many patents have been produced here that 
the name of St. Louis is identified with nearly 
all of the best types of street railroad cars to be 
found in any city in the Union. 

Very large shipments are made from time to 
time to Chicago, some of the roads in that city 
having been equipped exclusively by St. Louis 



MAN UFA CTURES. 



39 



houses. The awakening in New York in favor 
of surface rapid transit has also been felt in 
an advantageous manner in St. Louis, orders of 
a very large character having been placed here 
during the last two or three years. Boston, 
Baltimore, Washington, Columbus, Cleveland, 
Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake City, Milwau- 
kee, Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Paul have 
all looked to this city for street railroad supplies, 
and extensive shipments have also been made fre- 
quently to extreme southern points, such as New 
Orleans and Galveston, to say nothing of such dis- 
tant cities as Los Angeles, Portland and Tacoma. 
Nor is the popularity of St. Louis street cars 
confined to the United States. A good lesson 
in geography can be learned bj^ a glance over 
the shipping books of any one of the gigantic 
street car factories of this city. England buys 
from St. Louis freely, while there are now 
running on Australian streets, cars made in the 
northern portion of St. Louis. A year or two 
ago an order was received and executed whereby 
the subjects of the Mikado of Japan were given 
an insight into the progress made by the street 
car builders of America in general, and of St. 
Louis in particular. 

St. Louis is by far the best 
saddlery and harness center in 
the United States. When it 
was merely a frontier town it commenced the 
manufacture of saddles and harness for the use of 
immigrants and pioneers, and when the war 
broke out the number of people engaged in the 
business v/as considerable. During the war im- 
mense orders were placed in St. Louis for army 
saddles and harness, and this is one of the few 
industries which in consequence did not suffer 
materially from the national disaster. During 
the last quarter of a century the business has 
assumed immense proportions, and a careful re- 
view of the transactions of the twelve exception- 
ally large factories of St. Louis, and of the many 
smaller ones, indicates that the annual value of 
the output is now a little more than $5,000,000. 
The trade is very varying in character. St. 
Louis has a practical monopoly of the business 
in the Western and Southwestern States, and to 



SADDLERY AND 
HARNESS. 



these it ships saddles of the Texan or Mexican 
type of the most elaborate character, some of 
them heavy enough in themselves to provide 
what would appear to be quite a considerable 
load for the little animals on which they are usu- 
ally fitted. But the trade is not by any means 
restricted to heavy saddles for cowboys and 
farmers. Some of the best retail establishments 
in New York obtain their supplies from St. 
Louis, which also ships to points as far distant 
as British Columbia and even Europe. Light 
racing saddles of great popularity are made in 
the city, and harness of every description is also 
produced. One of the largest whip factories is 
to Ije found here, and in every department act- 
ivity prevails. During the last eight or ten 
years the practice of sending out of the city for 
supplies needed in these kindred trades has en- 
tirely died out, and now nearly everj'thing 
required is made at home, and an additional 
impetus thus given to other branches of the 
leather industry. 

For its stoves, ranges and fur- 
naces St. Louis was famous long 
before it took first rank among 
manufacturing cities, and it has maintained its 
supremacy to this day. The history of the in- 
dustry is the history of the lives of some of its 
best-known citizens, and it is full of facts which 
are far stranger than fiction. The value of its 
output in these lines is considerably in excess 
of two millions per annum, and is increasing, not 
every year, but every month. The largest fac- 
tory in the world devoted to this class of manu- 
facture is situated in St. Louis, and the name of 
the city is a by-word with all who handle stoves 
or ranges of any description. There are no ge- 
ographical limits to this trade. St. Louis ships 
to every State in the Union, and to all parts of 
the American continent. Europe has been slow 
in appreciating the value and convenience of 
American stoves and ranges, but of late years 
St. Louis has shipped many of its best products 
in this line to London and other trans- Atlantic 
markets. St. Louis ranges swept everything 
before them at the World's Fair, and came back 
loaded down with blue ribbons. 



STOVES AND 
RANGES. 



40 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



THE LEAD INDUSTRY 
IN 



St. Louis is the larg- 
est white lead manu- 
facturing city in the 
DIFFERENT BRANCHES. ^^,^^j^^^ ^^^^^ j^ continues 

to increase its output ever}- year. The annual 
yield now exceeds 30,0()() tons in weight and 
$4,000,000 in value. The three largest facto- 
ries in the country are in the city, and their ca- 
pacitv appears to be unlimited. The figures 
would be even more astounding but for trade 
combinations which have had an effect on prices 
and restricted the output throughout the entire 
country. Pig lead had been held for too great 
an advance, and this had the effect of putting 
up the price of white lead too high, giving the 
dealers in mixed paints an opportunity to com- 
pete more bitterly than ever. The heavy floods 
in the Mississippi Valley of two or three years 
ago also had a depressing effect on this industry, 
which however has nearly regained lost ground 
and is now in a very flourishing condition, with 
annual shipments of white lead amounting to 
something like forty million pounds, as com- 
pared with fourteen millions in 1880 and twenty- 
one millions in 1886. The trade is one in which 
great variation in the annual output is unavoid- 
able, but the general tendency in St. Louis is 
decidedly in the right direction, and there is no 
fear of the city's claim to supremacy being 
challenged in the long run. 

Another branch of the lead business which 
has shown even more remarkable and satis- 
factory increase is lead pipe and sanitary supplies 
generally. One of the largest plumbers' sup- 
plies establishments in the world is located in 
St. Louis, with a large branch in an Illinois city. 
It has advertised St. Louis throughout the 
entire labor world by the successful efforts of its 
controllers to introduce the profit-sharing sys- 
tem into its pay-rolls. One effect of this act of 
genuine philanthropy has been to so popularize 
and strengthen the local trade that it is very 
unusual for any supplies to be obtained from out 
of the city, in spite of the fact that some of the 
eastern factories boast themselves of being the 
best in the world; and besides establishing a 
practically local monopoly, the enterprise of the 



establishments has enabled them to make vigor- 
ous inroads into the territory of. New York and 
Boston manufacturers, shipments in this line of 
business going daily to the Atlantic and Pacific 
Coasts and even to foreign countries. 

In the South and Southwest St. Louis is 
known as a great sanitary plumbing center, and 
in many lines of business the factories can hardly 
keep up with the heavy orders their own enter- 
prise has called forth. The more general incorpo- 
ration of bath-room accommodations in private 
houses, together with the enormous quantity of 
plumbing called for in the commercial palaces 
which are being erected in every part of 
St. Louis, have also combined to keep the fac- 
tories busy and to drive away au}- possible fear 
that might exist as to the future of the city in 
this regard. Improved methods in building, 
which have enabled contractors to keep up their 
work for the entire year instead of limiting their 
operations to six or eight months in the spring, 
summer and fall, have abolished the quiet time 
which used to be looked for in the plumljers' 
supplies industry in winter, and taken away the 
possibility of catching up with orders in arrear 
during the winter months. The capacity of the 
factories has been steadily increased, and al- 
though the sales of sanitary plumbing materials 
now exceed four millions per annum, the supply 
is ample without going out of the city for 
assistance. 

St. Louis is the largest shot manufacturing; 
and distributing center in. the world. Nearly a 
million dollars are invested in the shot towers, 
and these convert into shot (5,000 to 10,001) 
tons of pig lead every year. The competition 
in this line of business is heavy, but the local 
manufacturers succeed in holding their own and 
in doing a profitable business in spite of draw- 
backs. The census of 1890 gave some interest- 
ing information as to the capital employed and 
the number of men engaged in the various in- 
dustries connected directly with lead. This 
shows that upwards of 4,000 men find employ- 
ment in this line, to say nothing of an immense 
number of others who are engaged in kindred 
industries returned under other heads. 



MAN UFA C TURES. 



41 



BRICK AND 
SEWER PIPE. 



St. Louis bricks are in de- 
mand as far east as New York, 



as far west as the towns on the 
Pacific Coast, and as far nortli as Canada. The 
clay found in tlie neighborliood of St. Louis is 
the finest in tlie country, and nearly 100,000 
tons of it are shipped uut of the city yearly, 
though enough is kept at home to make St. 
Louis one of the largest brick manufacturing 
cities' in the world. The clay is free from 
gravel, and can be made into brick with the aid 
of water and shovel alone. Such primitive 
modes of construction have, however, been long 
since superseded by machinery. One company 
alone makes over 100,000,000 bricks in St. 
Louis every year, and it is almost impossilile 
to ascertain the actual total output, though it 
far exceeds 200,000,000 annually. Hydraulic 
press bricks are a specialty of St. Louis, and 
their popularity throughout the entire country 
is generally known. These, together with the 
other most popular St. Louis-made bricks, are in 
growing demand in all sections, and during the 
year l<Sil3 the capacity for manufacture was in- 
creased to a most remarkable extent. 

Other clay manufactures show almost equally 
astounding totals for St. Louis. There is an 
abundance of good fire clay to be found near the 
city and, indeed, within its corporate limits. 
Sewer pipe is also produced in immense quanti- 
ties, the output exceeding fifty tons every year. 
The local demand, which is always heavy, is 
augmented by large orders constantly received 
from all the central and Western States, and 
there are, in addition, sales every year in New 
England and on the Pacific Coast. This is an 
industry which has made enormous strides dur- 
ing the last few years. The exceptional value 
of the trade is now generally admitted, and in- 
quiries are being received from manufacturers 
in all sections who are looking out for suitable 
territory in which to carry on their business. 

The Clay Record., published at Chicago, in a 
recent review of the brick industry of the United 
States, said: 

"The increasing use of pressed brick in this 
country is due more largely to the growth of the 



St. Louis manufacture of pressed brick than any 
other cause. St. Louis ships pressed brick to 
New York, New Orleans, San Antonio, Duluth 
and Seattle. It is the head and front of the 
pressed brick industry. Its product last year 
was 220,000,000 brick. Fifteen years ago the 
product was not 30,000,000, and these latter 
figures include brick made by the old-time pro- 
cess. One St. Louis company is the biggest 
manufacturer of pressed brick in the world, and 
has branch yards in several cities. It began 
operations twenty-five years ago, with every 
architect in the country ojjposed to pressed 
brick. Now nearly all of the tallest buildings 
in America are made of this material. The 
St. Louis brickmaking capacity has increased 
within fifteen years from 240,000 a week to 
2,000,000. Nineteen hundred workmen are em- 
ployed, and even in the East, where brickmaking 
has at least reached something like the pro- 
ficiency of the West, St. Louis brick is preferred, 
though it must be purchased at an advance o\-er 
the price paid for native brick. There is some 
virtue in the St. Louis clay, which also adds to 
the quality of the brick. 

" The fancy and ornamental brick trade was 
not known there fifteen years ago. It is now a 
great business. Over 2r)0 different shapes and 
designs are kept in stock. Gravel brick, un- 
known, save in England, fifteen years ago, are 
now made in St. Louis with as good success as 
in England. The only terra cotta works in 
vSt. Louis began in a small wooden building in 
1<SS2. Now they are shipping their product 
East, West, North and South. A quarter of a 
million represents their annual output. 

"St. Louis leads in fire brick and fireclay 
products. Fifteen years have shown wonderful 
growth. The Cheltenham district produces 
more fire clay sewer pipe than any other district 
in the United States. The St. Louis output of 
brick is but little behind the entire output of 
the State of Ohio, and fire brick, gas retorts, 
chimney tops, fire-proofing, crucibles, and sewer 
pipe are the Cheltenham goods. The City of 
Mexico, Monterey, and all the eastern cities use 
its fire brick. It turns out, at full capacity, 



42 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



THE BREWERIES 
OF ST. LOUIS. 



three miles of clay sewer pipe a clay. Oiie 
concern ships thirty-five to forty tons of fire 
brick. St. Lonis has the best fire clay out of 
England. Near Rolla, ^Missouri, is another great 
deposit, even more refractory than that found 
here in such inexhaustible cjuantities. There 
are eleven fire brick firms. The shipments 
last year were 9,329 cars of fire brick at $90 a 
car, 747 cars of fire clay at $'^^> a car, and 2,211 
cars of tile at $195 a car. The industry em- 
ploys 1,172 hands." 

The beer brewing indus- 
try of St. Louis ranks among 
the most important of its 
manufactures. The city is one of the first beer 
manufacturing cities in the world, and it boasts 
proudly of the largest brewery in the United 
States and the most magnificent brewery in the 
world. At the world's competition at Chicago, 
this year (1893), St. Louis beer won the high- 
est award, scoring more points than the products 
of any other city. This is an industry which 
has more than kept pace with the growth of the 
city, a fact which a perusal of the following 
extract from the Missouri Republican., of Sep- 
tember 20, 1854, clearly indicates: 

"St. Louis has about twenty-four breweries, 
and every one of them has stored nearly twice 
the quantity of ale, for this summer, that has 
been made in any preceding one. As we are 
informed by one of the largest dealers of this 
article, the quantity may safely be reckoned at 
forty thousand barrels of lager beer and, per- 
haps, twenty thousand barrels of common beer. 
By an average count, one barrel of about thirty 
gallons gives about three hundred glasses. 
Thus we have about twelve million glasses of 
lager beer and about six million glasses of com- 
mon beer. Common beer is sold at five dollars 
per barrel and lager beer at seven dollars, that 
is at wholesale. This will make the amount 
received by the brewers: for lager beer, $290^- 
000, and for common, $100,000. The retailers, 
at five cents a glass, took in $600,000 for lager 
beer, and $300,000 for the common article. 
Just think of it, nearly a million dollars spent 
iu St. Louis, during one summer, for beer." 



In 18(;0, 122,400 barrels of lager beer, .Sr),.-)00 
of common beer, and 4,400 barrels of ale were 
manufactured, worth at wholesale $1,500,000, 
so that during the six years preceding the war 
the brewing industry of St. Louis increased 
with remarkable activity. Between 18(10 and 
1870 the production of beer more than doubled 
itself, and during the next seventeen years the 
increase was nearly five hundred per cent, for 
at the present time the breweries of St. Louis 
are producing fully 2,000,000 barrels, or more 
than (iO, 000, 000 gallons yearly. The following 
table shows the increase, year by year, since 
1877, with but one fractional decrease during 
the entire period: 



Year. 



1877... 

1,S78 . 

1879- . 

1880 

1881 

188-2 

1883 

1884 

1885. 

1886. 

1887 

1888 

1889 

1890 

1891 

1892 . 



Barrels. 



471 2.32 

521,684 

613,667 

828,072 

959,236 

1,069,715 

1,100,000 

1,122,2G.5 

1,086,032 

1,280,091 

1,383,361 

1,482,883 

1,546,587 

1,856,883 

1,810,812 

1,961,449 



(Gallons. 



14, 
16 
19, 
25, 
29, 
33, 
34. 
34, 
33, 
39, 
43, 
46. 
4s, 
58, 
56 
60 



608, 
172, 
023, 
670. 
739, 
661, 
100, 
790, 
666, 
682 
557 
,710, 
.717 
,498 

,i:« 

,814 



192 
204 
677 
232 

313 
165 
000 
215 
992 
821 
872 
815 
,490 
,114 
,172 
,919' 



The census returns for 1890 go more fully into 
the growth during the eighties. Thus, in 1880 
the capital invested in this industrj- was returned 
at $4,000,000, just one-fourth the total for 1890. 
During the ten years the army of employes in- 
creased from 1,200 to 2,800, and the annual 
wages from a little more than half a million to 
two millions and a quarter. The value of the 
product annually appears to be almost identical 
with the capital invested, and the increase dur- 
ing the ten vears was hence about four hundred 
per cent. Several new breweries have been 
started since the census was taken, and at the 
present time the number of men employed ex- 

*The returns for 1893 could not be included in this 
work. Taking the actual figures for November and 
estiniatiiij; for December, the number of gallons would be 
about 63,000,000. 



MANUFACTURES. 



43 



ceeds 3,700,* to whom there are paid in wages 
at least two and a half million dollars. 

There are about twenty-five large breweries 
in St. Louis, in addition to several others which 
are small only by comparison. Reference has been 
made in the preceding chapter to the purchase 
by the English syndicate of some fifteen of our 
most prominent breweries. This transaction 
was completed some five years ago, and the syn- 
dicate has so increased the capacity of its enor- 
mous plants that it now produces three-cpiarters 
of a million barrels of beer annually, and can 
increase its output to a million and a half bar- 
rels when the demand makes it necessary. The 
purchase of the breweries by these capitalists 
created quite a sensation, and called attention to 
St. Louis in a variety of ways. The two largest 
breweries held aloof from the transaction, and 
could not be tempted by English gold. These 
breweries are visited every year by thousands of 
tourists, and a regular system of guides to pilot 
the strangers over the immense plants is main- 
tained. The largest of them is in itself a small 
town, inaddition to which it maintains branches 
in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh 
and other cities, and the actual number of its em- 
ployes exceeds 4,000. Shipments are made to 
Mexico, to West Indies, Central America, Brazil, 
the Sandwich Islands, Australia, Japan, China 
and other ecjually distant points. Quite recentlv 
another attempt has been made by wealthy Lon- 
don bankers to obtain control of the two mam- 
moth breweries of St. Louis which have so far 
reserved their individuality. The effort was not 
successful, but the persistency of those making 
^.he offer cannot be regarded as other than a 
vvell-merited compliment to a city which is just 
beginning to be appreciated at its full worth in 
the old world. During the years LS90, 181)1 
and I.S92 new establishments have been erected 
in St. Louis, and increased competition has been 



TOBACCO 
AND CIGARS. 



*State Labor ConnnissioDer's Report, 1893. These cal- 
culations exclude resident agents and salesmen, traveling- 
men, clerical help, etc. The Anheuser-Busch Biewery, 
alone, finds employment for mure men than are returned 
for all the Vjrewerie? combined, but its vast army of cni- 
r,)r.vp<; includes many hundred men who are not brewers 
or actual producers. 



created. St. Louis is not quite the greatest beer 
producing city in America, but it does not fall 
far below the leaders in this respect, and before 
the century expires it will pass at least two of 
the three cities which now lead it. 

In tobacco St. Louis leads 
the entire country, a fact 
which can be easily proved by 
reference to the returns made yearly to the gov- 
ernment officers and to the amount of revenue 
paid. Our largest tobacco house has the record 
of paying a larger tax in a given period than 
any other establishment, and it is certainly the 
best equipped establishment of its kind in the 
world. As long ago as 18r)0 the city claimed 
the largest tobacco manufacturing house in 
the West, and from that time to this it has easily 
maintained its supremacy, not only over the 
West, but also the entire country. In 1880 there 
were in the city 222 establishments engaged in 
the manufacture of tobacco or cigars, with a 
capital of about one and a half million. The 
number of hands employed was 2,(i27, and the 
value of the product was less than :f (),0no,()00. 
The census for 1890 revealed the existence in 
the city of 12 tobacco factories and 29 (i cigar 
factories, with a total product valued at about 
116,000,000. The way in which the govern- 
ment revenue is collected makes it easy to ascer- 
tain at any period the condition of the tobacco 
industry. From the government returns it is 
evident that St. Louis manufactures about one- 
fourth the tobacco product of the United States. 
The number of pounds now manufactured 3'early 
is about 60,000,000, worth nearly .$20,000,000. 
About 6,000 people are kept constantly em- 
ployed, and the popularity of St. Louis brands 
is so great that they sell practically in every 
part of the civilized world, and certainly in 
every city of the United States. The annual 
increase in the product varies from ten to fifteen 
per cent, and, although the output was reduced 
in 1892 by a disastrous fire, the returns for that 
year showed a gain of upwards of 2,000,000 
pounds. The New Jersey district, which conies 
second to St. Louis in the returns, had for many 
years a very valuable trade in the far West, but 



44 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



St. lyouis factories have now secured a practical 
monopoly of this trade, and, in addition, the de- 
mand from Mexico and other Spanish-American 
countries is largely on the increase. 

The city is, of course, exceptionally well lo- 
cated for a cigar jobbing center, and one house 
iu it handles more cigars than any one house in 
any other city. From $3,000 to $5,000 is 
paid weekly by manufacturers in the way of 
duty, and there are now more than a million 
cigars manufactured ever)' week. About 30,000 
pounds of snuff are placed on the market by 
St. Louis houses every year. 

Passing to a more indispensable article of 
every-day life, it may be stated that St. Louis 
is the third largest flour manufacturing city in 
America, its output being exceeded only by 
Minneapolis and Milwaukee. If the returns 
from factories situated outside of the city limits, 
but owued and operated by St. Louis millers, 
are included, the city is second in the order. 
The annual output of mills within the city 
limits exceeds 1,(;()(),()()0 barrels, to which should 
be added 1,<S00,()00 manufactured annually at 
mills situated at Alton, Litchfield, Belleville, 
Red Bud, Nashville, Clinton, St. Mary's and 
other points, but which are owned and operated 
by St. Louis firms. The amount of flour han- 
dled by millers and dealers has increased more 
than fifty per cent since 188(), and the industry 
is in as healthy condition as is possible with 
wheat at the phenomenally low prices which 
have prevailed for over a year. Even this low 
price has its advantages, for it has enabled 
millers to place flour in eastern and other mar- 
kets hitherto closed against them. About half 
a million barrels are shipped yearly to Europe, 
about 38,000 to Canada, about twice that quan- 
tity to Havana, by rail to Gulf points, in addition 
to over 80,000 barrels sent down the river to 
New Orleans and thence to Havana. About 
80,000 barrels are shipped to eastern points, and 
about 1,.")00,()00 barrels to the Southern States. 

It is impossible to 
deal at length with the 
immense manufactur- 
ing interests grouped in the table on a preceding 



'•OTHER INDUSTRIES" 
$34,514,383. 



page as "other industries," with an aggregate 
annual product valued at $54,514,383. Indeed, 
if each industry were to be handled in detail an 
entire work would be occupied. But there are 
some points of especial interest in connection 
with some of the trades not mentioned specific- 
ally, which ought to be recorded. Thus, St. Louis 
is one of the largest publishing centers in the 
world, producing and binding an immense num- 
ber of books. Its planing mill industry is one 
of immense importance, gaining in magnitude 
every year. It is one of the largest candy and 
cracker manufacturing cities in the world, be- 
sides having within its corporate limits the larg- 
est cracker factory in America. The first city 
to have its streets lighted from end to end by 
aid of electricity, the business in electric sup- 
plies of every description has naturally grown 
until to-day it has assumed a magnitude far be- 
yond general acknowledgment. The value 
of the output is $6,000,000 per aniunn, and 
shipments are made regularly to New York and 
London. 

Enough patent medicines are manufactured 
in the city e^•ery year to either kill or cure the 
entire population of a good-sized nation, and the 
product of St. Louis chemical manufactories is 
also enormous. The census returns show that 
these two industries together have a product in 
excess of $5,000,000 per annum, and this calcu- 
lation is probably an under-statenient rather 
than otherwise. In paints and oils its business 
is constantly increasing, and iu bags and bag- 
ging it defies competition. Glass manufactured 
in St. Louis was used almost exclusiveh- in the 
World's Fair buildings, a striking tribute to the 
manufacturing greatness of St. Louis by its old- 
time rival. One of the largest contracts for glass 
ever issued was the one for the lights in the 
enormous roof of the new Union Station, and 
this contract was executed by a St. Louis house. 
St. Louis was the first city to manufacture silver- 
ware west of the Alleghany mountains, and iu a 
hundred other ways it has established its right 
to be regarded as the greatest manufacturing 
center of the West, and as one of the greatest 
manufacturing cities in the world. 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 



45 



CHAPTER IV. 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 



ST. LOUIS TERRITORY, AND THE WAY IN WHICH ITS ORDERS FOR MERCHANDISE ARE EXECUTED. 




Ml 



TAKE A MAP of the United States and 
draw a circle with a 5()()-mile radiu.s 
round New York, Chicago and St. 
Louis. The result will astonish you, 
unless you are already acquainted 
with the fact that a larger number of 
people reside in or within .300 miles of St. Touis 
than in or within 500 miles of any other city 
in the United States. At least two-fifths of the 
New York circle extends into the Atlantic 
Ocean, and more than another fifth is taken up 
by Takes Erie and Ontario and the southern 
section of Canada. Of the Chicago circle, the 
lakes occupy at least a third. 

St. Touis is much more fortunate, for nearly 
the entire circle covers rich land in a district 
the growth of which has surprised the world. 
It includes the wdiole of Missouri, Illinois, In- 
diana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Ar- 
kansas and Iowa, with portions of Nebraska, 
^linnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, West 
Virginia, Virginia, North and South Carolina, 
Georgia, Alabama, the Indian Territory, Okla- 
homa and Kansas — truly, a magnificent territory, 
and one whose possibilities are unlimited In a 
few short years we shall be called upon to cele- 
brate the centennial of the Touisiana purchase. 
When the treaty of Paris was signed, the Amer- 
ican minister, Mr. Robert R. Tivingston, said 
to M. Marbois, with whom he had been treat- 
ing: "We have lived long, but this is the noblest 
work of our lives. The treaty which we have 
just signed will change vast solitudes into flour- 
ishing districts." This prophetic utterance has 



been amply justified by resxdts; and as that portion 
of the old Territory of Louisiana which is trib- 
utary to St. Louis has emerged from darkness 
into light and from wilderness to fertility, so 
has the city which is its commercial metropolis 
risen head and shoulders above all competitors, 
and become literally the best distributing point 
for merchandise in the United States. 

"St. Louis," says Julian Ralph, in the ex- 
ceptionally able article from which an abstract 
has already been taken, "is commonly spoken 
of as the capital of the Mississippi Valley, but 
her field is larger. It is true that there is no 
other large city between her and New Orleans — 
a distance of 800 miles — but there is no other 
on the way to Kansas City, 283 miles; or to 
Chicago, 280 miles; or for a long way east or 
southwest. Her tributary territory is every 
State and city south of her; east of her, to the 
distance of 150 miles; north for a distance of 
250 miles; and in the west and southwest as far 
as the Rocky mountains. Between 1880 and 
1890, the State of Missouri gained more than 
half a million inhabitants; Arkansas gained 
32(i,000; Colorado, 300,000; Kansas, 430,000; 
Kentucky, 200,000; Nebraska, 600, OnO; Texas, 
040,000; Utah, 64,000; New Mexico, Arizona 
and Oklahoma, 114,000. Here, then, was a gain 
of 3,174,000 in population in St. Louis' tribu- 
tary country, and this has not only been greatly 
added to in the last two and a half years, but 
it leaves out of account the growth in popida- 
tion of the States of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Mis- 
sissippi and Louisiana." 



46 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



A ST. LOUIS 

COMMERCIAL 

SUBURB. 



We have said that the section 
of country within a 5()()-niile ra- 
dins of St. Louis is rich, and that 
its possibilities are prodigious. 
The States named as coming within the circle 
have made themselves famous by their achieve- 
ments in agricultural and other directions, and 
their greatness need not be dilated upon. But 
there has arisen during the last four or five years 
a new territory whose growth has been phenom- 
enal. Reference is made to Oklahoma, a com- 
mercial suburb of St. Louis, and a coiintry 
which was unknown to civilization until the 
three "openings," the first in 1<S89, and the 
third in 189?). In 1890, the original Oklahoma 
had a population of 62,000, and now it is 150,- 
000, a gain of 250 per cent in less than three 
years. The Cherokee Strip, recently opened, 
adds, it is computed, 100,000 to the population, 
brineino- the total number of inhabitants in the 
Territory up to 251,000. This gives Oklahoma 
a larger number of inhabitants than any other 
of the Territories, for LTtah, the most populous 
of all of them in 1890, had only 208,000 in that 
vear, which number must still be considerably 
below the 250,000 mark. New Mexico's popu- 
lation in 1890 was 154,000, and Arizona's 
60,000. In general business development and 
wealth, the growth of Oklahoma has been 
equally wonderful. The six national banks and 
twenty-four private banks in the Territory' show 
that the industrial, commercial and financial in- 
terests of that region are w-ell taken care of. 
The railroads running through it are well pat- 
ronized, and new lines are projected to meet the 
requirements of a steadily and rapidly expand- 
ing community. It was less injuriously affected 
by the financial disturbance than w^ere the other 
Territories and some of the States, and, as a 
consequence, it has rallied quicker from the 
effects of the panic. Agriculture, of course, is 
far ahead of all other interests in the Territory, 
but factories are being established and mines 
opened. Within a few years its activities will 
be fairly well diversified, and a well developed 
and s\mnietrical growth will be had. 

St. Louis is especially interested in the growth 



and fortunes of the Territory. Her business re- 
lations with this city have been close and ex- 
tensive from the beginning, and they are being 
diversified and expanded rapidly. This city is 
the chief distributing point for the entire South- 
west, and Oklahoma is a growing, prosperous 
and progressive portion of that section. The 
creation of a prosperous territory- with a popula- 
tion of a quarter of a million inhabitants in three 
years, shows how limitless are the possibilities 
of the country in which it is situated. There 
are yet countless acres to be opened for settle- 
ment in the Indian Territor\', and there is also 
room for millions of people in the great States 
that surround it. St. Louis is not exactly the 
center of population of the United States, which 
on June 1, 1890, was situated about twenty miles 
west of Columbus, Indiana. The center moved 
nearly fifty miles west during the eighties, and 
will reach St. Louis in its westward course 
within ten or twenty years. But it is unneces- 
sary to wait for this event to happen, for St. 
Louis is to-day practically the center of com- 
merce of the North American continent. It is 
too far east to be western,' too far west to be east- 
ern, too far north to be southern, and too far 
south to be northern. It is, in short, all things 
to all men and to all States — the great com- 
mercial and financial center of the most pros- 
perous nation in the world, and within compar- 
atively easy access by rail or river of all points. 
Thus, in addition to being the great distrib- 
uting point for the West and the great wdiolesale 
supply point from which the leading cities of 
Kansas and Colorado obtain merchandise of every 
description, it is also in every sense of the word 
the metropolis of the South. The New South 
and New St. Louis may be spoken of as twin 
sisters, for their birth and growth has been prac- 
ticallv simultaneous. Cincinnati alone competes 
with St. Louis for the southern trade, but during 
the last twenty years the latter has so com- 
pletely outstripped the former that the competi- 
tion can scarcely be said to exist at this time. 
The rapid development of new and practically 
unsettled sections of the Southern States has 
caused an immense increase in the demand from 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 



47 



TRADE WITH MEXICO 

AND 

SOUTH AMERICA. 



those sections, and in view of the popuhirity 
which immigration southward has attained, a 
still further growth in this direction is a cer- 
tainty. 

Nor is the trade of St. 
Louis limited by the 
boundaries of the United 
States. It is the nearest 
large city to Mexico, and is rapidly becoming 
the great centei of distribution for all points in 
the Mexican republic as well as in Spanish- 
American countries generally. European ex- 
porters up to a few years ago enjoyed a monop- 
oly of this trade, to which they catered so 
carefully that they popularized their goods and 
also their methods of doing business to an ex- 
tent which practically shut out trade from this 
country. The Spanish Club of St. Louis de- 
serves credit for having done more to get rid of 
this anomally than any other trade organiza- 
tion in the United States. Mexican merchants, 
as a rule, are well situated financially, but a sys- 
tem of long credits prevails, and this makes it 
absolutely necessary for the wholesaler to keep 
himself acquainted with the financial standing 
of those from whom orders are solicited. The 
Spanish Club, with the co-operation of the 
Autumnal Festivities Association, has made this 
easy by the collection of data of every descrip- 
tion, and by placing these data at the disposal of 
merchants. The city is now supplying Mexico 
"with goods of almost every descriiJtion, but more 
notably with agricultural and other machinerv, 
mill and mining supplies, steam and traction 
engines, shovels, hardware, sewing machines, 
belting, smoked and dried meats, groceries and 
provisions, wooden and willowware, glassware, 
fire brick, fire clay, cement, drugs and chem- 
icals, paints and oils, cordage, rubber goods, 
dressed lumber, street and railway cars and sujj- 
plies, blank-books and stationery and printing 
presses, importing in return large quantities of 
coffee, sugar, rice and fruit. During the year 
1892 nearly a million pounds of hardware were 
shipped from St. Louis on through bills of lading 
to IMexico, Cuba and Central and South Amer- 
ica. Groceries and chemicals of equal weight 



were sent, in addition to which 157,000 barrels 
of flour were shipped to Cuba. These totals 
merely represent the' direct shipxuents from St. 
Louis which the work of improvement on the 
Mississippi river, now in progress, will make 
both easier and cheaper. A large quantity of 
merchandise is still shipped to Spanish-Amer- 
ican countries via New York houses, but the ad- 
justment of freights and the improved railroad 
communications between St. Louis and Mexico 
favor direct shipment only. 

Before passing to a consideration of some of 
the principal articles included in the wholesale 
and jobbing business of St. Louis, it is interest- 
ing to note that during the eighties the tonnage 
of freight received at St. Louis increased from 
6,000,000 to nearly 10,000,000, while the quan- 
tity of freight forwarded by railroads out of St. 
Louis increased from 2,7.56,000 tons in ISSO 
to nearly double that total in 1890. The freight 
tonnage of the railroads tributary to St. Louis 
increased from about 35,000,000 in 1880 to 
nearly 49,000,000 in 1890, an increase during 
the ten years of nearly 14,000,000 tons. Since 
these figures were published in connection with 
the census of 1890, there has been a marked 
increase in shipments of goods from St. Louis, 
and in 1892 nearly 9,000,000 tons of merchan- 
dise crossed the Mississippi river at St. Louis, 
an increase of fifty per cent since 1887. Tlie 
total receipts of merchandise of St. Louis by 
river and rail were almost 12,000,000, as com- 
pared with 10,600,000 in 1890. The shipments 
also show a very large increase and point to 
prosperity of a most pronounced type. 

The wholesale and 
jobbing dry goods 

business of St. Louis 

AND DRUGS. , 

shows an increase in 

the cash receipts of from ten to fifteen per 
cent per annum. The total sales now exceed 
140,000,000 per annum, and they extend to 
points west of the Rocky mountains, as well as 
to cities in Indiana and over the entire South. 
In addition to the immense jobbing trade, the 
retail dry goods trade of St. Louis has assumed 
immense importance, and the business trans- 



DRY GOODS, BOOTS 
AND SHOES, GROCERIES 



48 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



acted in response to mail orders is very large. 
The hat and cap trade has developed from prac- 
tically nothing ten years ago, to abont $5,000,000 
per annum at this time, and is growing with 
great rapidity. As a boot and shoe distributing 
city St. Lunis is second only to Boston. Enor- 
mous as is the manufacturing output of the St. 
Louis factories, and rapid as has been the in- 
crease during the last ten years, the jobbing 
business in boots and shoes has shown an even 
more astonishing growth. The exceptional 
causes which made trade dull throughout the 
entire country during at least six months of the 
current year had less effect on the shoe trade of 
St. Louis than on any other city in the country. 
In 1892 St. Louis received 828,071 cases of 
shoes, a gain over IXDl of about forty per cent. 
Ten years ago the receipts were less than 
.100,000 cases, so that the gain has been excep- 
tionally pronounced, though it has chiefly taken 
place during the last four years. The ship- 
ments from Boston to various trade centers are 
usually considered as criterions, and it is inter- 
esting to note that while St. Louis received 
13,500 more cases from Boston than in the pre- 
ceding year, there was a falling off in the re- 
ceipts of New York of 13,000, at Chicago of 
8f),000 and at Baltimore of 44,000, showing 
that the immense gain of St. Louis meant a 
great deal more than an increased demand in 
keeping with the natural increase in popu- 
lation. 

The wholesale grocery trade of St. Louis is 
so large that the sales are now nearly $90,000,000 
a year. The increase for the year 1892 over 
the preceding year was twelve and a half per 
cent, largelv due to increased orders from Mis- 
souri, Arkansas, Illinois, the Indian Territor}- 
and the Soiitheastern States, and to the opening 
up of new trrde in the Iowa district. In 
branches of the grocery trade, such as sugar, 
syrups and rice, very healthy gains are reported 
every year; and in coffee, which is one of the 
city's specialties, the gain in 1892 was enor- 
mous, the shipments increasing from 232,000 
sacks to 367,000. 

St. Louis is either the first or the second 



largest distrilniting point for drugs and chem- 
icals, and the volume of the business in these 
specialties now exceeds a million dollars a 
month. The largest drug house in the world 
has its home in St. Louis, and there are other 
establishments of enormous proportions. The 
trade depression of 1893 checked the increase 
of eight or ten per cent in business which had 
been reported annually, but did not cause any 
marked falling off. The wholesale drug busi- 
ness is one which is not generally understood 
by the outside public, to many of whom it will 
be news that it is quite a common practice for a 
new proprietary article to be placed in the hands 
of St. Louis jobbers, irrespective of the home of 
the inventor, simply because it has been ascer- 
tained by experience that St. Louis possesses 
unrivaled facilities for introducing into the 
market any novelty in the driig trade. The 
volume of business transacted is amazing in its 
extent and variety, and is a source of general 
surprise to those who have made themselves 
acquainted with the details. 



HARDWARE 
AND HARDWOOD. 



St. Louis has the largest 
hardware house in the world, 



and the city has few equals 
as a distributing point for this commodity. The 
year 1892 was an exceptionally favorable one 
for this trade. The actual receipts showed an 
increase of fifteen per cent and, as there was a 
general reduction in prices, the actual increase 
in the volume of trade was little, if an}-, less 
than twenty-five per cent. The foreign trade is 
exceptionally good, in addition to which the en- 
tire coimtry west of the Alleghany mountains is 
supplied. Indeed, shipments are made into 
many States which cannot, by any species of 
reasoning, be regarded as St. Louis terri- 
tory. Shipments are also made frequently to 
points within half an hour's ride of Chicago, 
and, what is even more remarkable, quite an 
extensive business is done with strictly eastern 
sections. The old craze for sending East for 
high-class decorations for homes is rapidly dying 
out in face of the progress made by St. Louis, 
which now sends more high-class hardware 
to the East than it receives from it. The 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 



49 



annual sales amount to about $18,000,000, and 
are increasing with great rapidity. In wooden 
and willowware St. Louis does such an enor- 
mous trade that the sales are equal to those of 
all the other American cities combined — a state- 
ment which may seem extravagant, but which 
is easily borne out by an examination of tables. 
St. lyouis is the best hardwood market in the 
world, and its lumber interests are enormous. 
It is so situated that the very best lumber 
regions are within easy access; and the reputa- 
tion the city has obtained as a lumber market 
has led to the choicest products coming to it. 
The receipts of lumber are so large that the figures 
are a trifle bewildering. Thus, in 1892 the num- 
ber of feet received was 883,943,163, an increase 
of fully twenty-five per cent on those of two 
years previously. The shipments were less than 
half the receipts, showing that during the year 
4(;o,()()O,0()0 feet of lumber were consumed in 
the local planing mills, wagon and carriage fac- 
tories, and other establishments, a marked 
tribute to the city's manufacturing activity. 
The planing mill products alone realized at 
least $4,000,000 during the year, and are stead- 
ily increasing. 

The general depression in 
the cotton trade during the 
last few years has been so great 
that much activity is impossible, but St. Louis 
is rapidly increasing its importance as a receiv- 
ing and distributing jjoint. It draws most of 
its supplies from Arkansas, the other States 
which ship largely to St. Louis being Texas, 
Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, 
Louisiana and Kentucky. During the year 
1891 the city built up a very valuable export 
trade, shipinng 185,000,000 bales to England, 
and smaller quantities to Germany, France, 
Belgium, Ireland, Saxony, Austria, Italy, Hol- 
land and Switzerland, the shipments to Ireland, 
Saxony and Holland opening up an entirely new 
trade. The total shipments during the year end- 
ing August 31, 1892, were 68.''), 000 bales, of 
which nearly a third went direct to Europe, and 
17(1,000 bales to England. A great gain in 
this business cannot be looked for until condi- 



COTTON 
AND WOOL. 



tions over which the city has no control are 
changed. 

At one time there existed a prejudice against 
St. Louis as a wool market, but this fortunately 
has entirely died out. The receipts in wool 
in St. Louis in 1892 were about 2(5,000,000 
pounds, 4,000,000 greater than in 1891, and 
larger than any year's in the city's history. The 
years 1888 to 1891 showed a satisfactory busi- 
ness, increasing during the four years a little 
over 2,000,000 pounds. The early eighties 
showed unfavorable returns, none of them ex- 
ceeding or even approaching the business of 
1879. A great jump was made in the forward 
direction in the year 1885, and now the strength 
of the St. Louis wool market is so great that 
there can be no possible anxiety as to the future. 
St. Louis is now a very much stronger wool 
market than Chicago, and for domestic wools it 
is now the greatest market in the country, with 
the single exception of Boston. The great gain 
has been brought about mainly by the energy of 
the wool merchants, who have established for 
the city a great reputation for promptness in 
handling consignments and making remittances. 
This fact, coupled with the improved railroad 
facilities and reduced freight rates, has brought 
the St. Louis wool market in touch with the 
large wool producing areas in Montana, Wyo- 
ming and Colorado. Two of these States are 
within what is regarded as Chicago territory, 
which city formerly secured the bulk of the 
Colorado trade. Now, however, these three 
States send nearly the whole of their product to 
St. Louis, and the indications are that other ex- 
treme Western States will soon follow the good 
example set them. 

In shipments, St. Louis was even more active 
in 1892 than in receipts, the splendid total 
of 27,000,000 being reached, showing an in- 
crease of considerably over 5,000,000 pounds. 
The stock on hand on January 1, 1892, ex- 
ceeded 7,000,000 ' pounds, but the transac- 
tions for the year were so heavy that in spite 
of the great increase in receipts, the stock carried 
over to 1893 showed a very gratifying decrease. 
It is probable that the increased demand from 



50 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



Northern and Northwestern areas is mainly re- 
sponsible for this increase in shipments. For- 
merly these mills relied upon Chicago for their 
supplies, and it is only in recent years that they 
have found out that they can get better treat- 
ment in St. Louis than in any other city in the 
country. Wisconsin is taking more and more 
of our wool every month, and mills within the 
city boundaries of Chicago send their orders in 
here with gratifying regularity. 

Strange buyers are seen in the city constantly, 
and are more than welcome. They are attracted 
here by reports of friends in the same line of 
business who have commenced drawing their 
supplies from St. Louis, and who have found it 
to their advantage to do so. The superiority of 
the St. Louis wool market in the matter of selec- 
tions is its guarantee for future success, and the 
great increase in wool manufacturing in the 
West and Northwest renders any anxiety un- 
necessary' as to the maintenance of the demand 
in the sections which the city rightfully looks 
upon as its own. 

While the receipts of wool have doubled 
themselves during the last twelve years, the 
gain in hides and leather has been even more 
pronounced. The weight of the hides received 
has increased from 18,000,000 pounds in 1880 
to nearly 40,000,000 pounds per anuum now, 
while the shipments have about doubled during 
the same period. In the early da}-s of St. Louis 
it was noted for its transactions in peltries and 
furs, which increased steadily up to about the 
year 1870. For the next fifteen or sixteen years 
comparatively little progress was made, owing 
to causes which affected the wool industry of 
the entire country, but the business has in- 
creased six-fold during the last six years, and 
has now assumed enormous proportions. 

St. Louis is known as the 
best winter wheat flour market 
in the world, and it is the sec- 
ond in the list of primary grain markets in the 
United States. Its receipts in grain have in- 
creased more than sixty per cent in the last fi\'e 
years, as will be seen by the following con- 
densed table; 



Bush'ls 



WHEAT AND 
OTHER GRAIN. 



1892. 



1891. 



1890. 



1889. 



1888. 



Wheat. - 
Corn .. 
Oats.-- 

Rye 

Barley. 

Total. 



I i I I 

27,483,855 2.5,523,183 11,730,774 13,810,591 13,010,108 
32,030,030 21,530,940 45,003,681 34,299,781 20,269,499 
10,604,810 12,432,215 12,259,955 11,347,340 10,456,760 



1,189,1531 1,149,4901 501,0.541 679,364 
2,691,249 2,108,546 2,794,880 3,070,807 



■3,999,09762,744,374 72,260,344,63,207,883 



421,514 
3,044,961 



47,202,842 



The export trade has increased with great 
rapidity, the European shipments being six 
times as large in 1892 as in 1890 in wheat 
alone. The popularity of St. Louis as a grain 
market is also proved by the increased receipts 
in wheat since 1886, when they were 8,400,000 
bushels, as compared with 27,000,000 in 1892. 
The transactions in hay have increased very 
rapidly during the last ten years, though, owing 
to the increased home consumption, the ship- 
ments have remained nearly stationary. Dur- 
ing the current year, hay has been shipped from 
St. Louis to France, and although the transac- 
tion was a comparatively insignificant one, it is 
of imjDortance as showing what an immense field 
is open for St. Louis in exporting, and how 
easily these opportunities can be taken advan- 
tage of. 

St. Lonis is the best horse 
and mule market in the 
United States; and so far as 
mules are concerned, its transactions are larger 
than those of all the other markets in the coun- 
try combined. The trade is confined to a com- 
paratively small area on Broadway, a few blocks 
north of the Eads bridge. About 50,000 mules 
are sold every year in this section, and the re- 
ceipts from sales exceed $5,000,000. The go\-- 
ernment purchases between 1,000 and 2,000 
mules every year from St. Louis, and the south- 
ern planters rely on the city entirely for their 
supply. Shipments are made to Cuba in large 
numbers, one firm alone selling as many as 5,000 
head a year to Cuban planters. To such a perfect 
system has the trade been brought that tele- 
graphic orders are often received and executed for 
from twelve to a hundred mules wanted at distant 
points. The animals are graded very carefully, 
and there is hence little difficulty in fixing values 



HORSES, MULES 
AND LIVE STOCK. 



TRADE AND COMMERCE. 



51 



or completing trades. In horses, St. Lonis also 
does a very large trade, as many as 20,000 being 
sold every year. It is qnite an every-day occur- 
rence for high-grade carriage horses to be or- 
dered from St. Louis by New York and Chicago 
dealers. This is because St. Louis has the repu- 
tation of paying a higher price for stock than 
any other market, while the rapidity with which 
sales are made makes it i^rofitable to sell at very 
low prices. More than one St. Louis magnate 
has ordered a pair of handsome carriage horses 
from a distant market in order to obtain some- 
thing exceptionally fine, only to have his order 
executed through a St. Louis dealer or broker 
at an additional expense to him of the commis- 
sion charged by the foreign house. 

In live stock generally, St. Louis is a highly 
important market. The total live cattle receipts 
in iy;i2 were 801,111, and almost the entire re- 
ceipts were marketed here. From 600 to 800 
head of cattle are slaughtered daily at the Na- 
tional Stock Yards, and a great increase in fa- 
cilities is the result of the introduction of capital 
from outside points. During 1892, St. Louis 
sold more Texas cattle than Chicago, and the 
prices realized were somewhat higher. In spite 
of the general decrease of interest in sheep- 
raising throughout the country, there was but a 
slight falling off in the receipts or shipments of 
sheep: nor was the volume of business in hogs 
materially reduced, although the flood kept a 
great deal of trade away from the city, in addi- 
tion to which less hogs were raised. It is a 
significant fact that, although a less number 
were sold, a very much larger sum was realized 
than in 1891, and the condition of the market 
must be described as exceptionally healthy in 
ever^' respect. 

The story of the 
greatness of St. Louis 



RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS 
HERE AND ELSEWHERE. 



as a wholesale and 
jobbing center might be continued without limit, 
but the few specialties selected must suffice to 
illustrate the general scope and extent of the 
business, which has assumed proportions far be- 
yond what the most enthusiastic New St. Louisan 
realizes, and which is growing every month. 



Before passing from the subject of trade and 
commerce, a reference must be made to the re- 
tail business of the city. St. Louis is without 
doubt the greatest shopping center in the West, 
and with but few exceptions the greatest in the 
country. The Bureau of Information recently 
issued a circular to 2,000 prominent citizens, 
asking them a series of questions as to the retail 
excellence of St. Louis. Among other queries 
was one as to the nature and extent of the as- 
sortments, and another asked for a comparison 
as to price. Nearly every reply was to the effect 
that the more one traveled the more was the 
conviction driven home that New St. Louis was 
one of the most fa\-ored cities so far as stocks 
are concerned, and the opinion was unanimously 
expressed that retailers ask less for their wares 
than do those of any other city for similar grades. 
One of the leaders of society, a lady who was 
born in the East, but who is now the wife of one 
of St. Louis' leading bankers, did not exagger- 
ate one jot or tittle when she said : 

' ' Every year I visit the eastern stores, and 
every j-ear I become more strongly convinced 
that our St. Louis merchants equal in energy 
and result any in the United States." 

Captain Cuttle's advice to his friends as to im- 
portant records of fact and philosophy was, 
"when found, make a note of." The hint 
expressed so tersely by the St. Louis lady is as 
valuable as any proverb of the past or present, 
and should be "made note of" and be borne 
constantly in mind by every resident in the city 
or within a da)-'s journey of it. 

St. Louis merchants act on the principle that 
the best is the cheapest, and they accordingly 
carrs' the best goods in every grade, thereby ac- 
quiring and maintaining a reputation which 
adds greatly to their business, and which brings 
them in orders by mail from every direction. It 
is impossible to estimate how many thousands 
of dollars are received in St. Louis daily by re- 
tailers, but the express and freight business 
transacted may be taken as a fair index, and 
this shows that St. Louis occupies a unique po- 
sition as a distributor of goods of every descrip- 
tion required for household purposes. The store 



52 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



buildings of a few years ago having proved en- 
tirely inadequate to the wants of the present time, 
uiagnificent structures have been erected for the 
accommodation of merchant princes in various 
lines. Broadway and Olive street are special 
favorites with large retailers, and most of the 
largfe establishments are to be found on these 
magnificent thoroughfares, though in some lines 
adjoining streets are also quite popular. 

The retail dry goods houses may be described 
as singularly massive and complete, some of 
the largest establishments on the Parisian Bon 
Marche plan having acquired a national reputa- 
tion. In clothing and hats, the retail establish- 
ments are also conspicuously fine, while the 
most elaborate assortments of boots and shoes 
are to be found in numerous retail stores in the 
best locations in the city. 

Speaking of the retail trade of the city gener- 
ally, it may be said that the St. Louis merchants 
are specially favored by location. Not only have 
they a population of considerably over half a 
million within their own city from which to 
draw regular trade, but they also enjoy the trade 
of an immense number of suburban and semi- 
suburban cities, in addition to doing a large 
trade by express and through the mails with the 
residents of at least five States. Besides these 
excellent facilities for securing customers, they 
are remarkably well fixed for obtaining stock at 
reasonable prices. The manufactories of the 
city enable a large percentage of the supply to 
be drawn from home, and the railroad connec- 
tions with the East are such as to render it very 
easy and convenient to receive the latest pro- 
ductions of the great eastern houses. The city 
is also a United States port of entry^ and re- 
ceives goods from European centers direct to the 
consignee. Every advantage is taken of these 
facilities, and the latest fashion in St. Louis is 
never far behind the latest fashion in New York, 
London or Paris. 

The St. Louisan on his travels and anxious 
to have justice done his favored city should ac- 
quaint him'self with some of the most remarkable 
of its commercial* achievements. 



*See also page 29. 



St. Louis is the best market in America. 
It is by far the best hardwood lumber market. 
It is the largest soft hat market in the world. 
It has the largest drug house in the world. 
It sells more bags and bagging than any other 
city. 

It is the largest interior cotton market in the 
world. 

It is the best winter wheat flour market in the 
world. 

It is the largest inland coffee market in the 
world. 

It is the second primary grain market in the 
world. 

It is the largest horse and mule market in the 
world. 

Its wholesale grocery sales exceed |yu,UOO,UUO 
a year. 

It has the largest exclusive carpet house in 
America. 

It is the largest fruit and vegetable market in 
America. 

It has the largest hardware establishment in 
the world. 

It has the largest woodenware establishment 
in the world. 

It is the third largest dry goods market in the 
United States. 

It has the finest jewelry establishment in the 
United States. 

It ships more than 7.j,()(K),(H)() pounds of barb 
wire annually. 

It exports more goods to Mexico than any 
other interior city. 

It is the best interior market in the United 
States for domestic wool. 

It handles more than half the woodenware 
sold in the United States. 

It receives by rail and river a million tons of 
merchandise every month. 

It is the largest shoe distributing point in the 
world, with one exception. 

It handles on an average nearly three million 
feet of lumber every working day in the year. 

Its transactions in dry goods, clothing, hats 
and shoes are in excess of $100,000,000 per 
annum. 



RAILROAD AND RIVER FACILITIES. 



53 



CHAPTER V. 

RAILROAD AND RIVER FACILITIES. 

THE BEST RAILROAD CENTER IN THE UNITED STATES.— THE LARGEST CITY ON THE LARGEST 
RIVER IN THE WORLD.— THE LARGEST RAILROAD STATION IN THE WORLD. 




PROPHET," we are told, "is not 
without honor, save in his own 
country," and what is true of 
prophets is equally true of cities. 
Hence it was that the world generally 
was enlightened concerning the ex- 
traordinary advance of St. Louis as a railroad 
center, not by a St. Louis statistician, but by 
Mr. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent of the 
Eleventh Census, whose under-statement of the 
population of the city in 1890 proves conclu- 
sively that he is not unduly prejudiced in favor 
of St. Louis. In the speech delivered by the 
superintendent on November 21, 1891, from 
which quotations have already been made, he 
called attention to the fact that St. Louis, as a 
railroad center, is something of which the 
nation, as well as the city, can be proud. "We 
may throw Ohio, Indiana and Illinois out of 
consideration," he said, "and still have more 
miles of railroad tributary to vSt. Louis than the 
total mileage of the United Kingdom, of Ger- 
many, France or Austria-Hungary. Add half 
of Illinois, which is justly tributary to this city, 
and we have a railway mileage, tributary to 
this one great river city, equal to the combined 
railway mileage of the United Kingdom and 
Austria-Hungary. Again, take the mileage of 
railways centering in St. Louis, and we find it 
equal to the total mileage of the German Em- 
pire, and exceeding by about five thousand miles 
the total mileage of railways of England or of 
France. These are not boastful facts, but facts 
which point to a future far beyond that as yet 
attained by Europe's great river cities." 

A year later, another tribute to the excellence 



of St. Louis as a railroad center, was paid by 
Mr. Julian Ralph, who, in his article in Har- 
per' s Netv Monthly Magazine.^ for November, 
1892, said: "St. Louis has become remarkable 
as a centering place of railroads. The city is 
like a hub to those spokes of steel that reach out 
in a circle, which, unlike that of most other 
towns of prominence, is nowhere broken by lake, 
sea or mountain chain. Nine very important 
railways, and a dozen lesser ones, meet there. 
The mileage of the roads thus centering at the city 
is 25,678, or nearly 11,000 more than in 1880, 
while the mileage of the roads that are tributary 
to the city has grown from 35,000 to more than 
57,000. These railways span the continent 
from New York to San Francisco. They reach 
from New Orleans to Chicago, and from the 
Northwestern States to Florida. Through Pull- 
man cars are now run from St. Louis to San 
Francisco, to the City of Mexico, and to St. 
Augustine and Tampa in the season. New 
lines that have the city as their objective point 
are projected; old lines that have not gone there 
are preparing to build connecting branches, and 
several of the largest systems that reach there 
are just now greatly increasing their terminal 
facilities in the city with notable works at im- 
mense cost." 

These two quotations from 
the utterances or writings of 
outsiders, show how the rail- 
road facilities of St. Louis are appreciated 
throughout the country at the present time. 
During the eighties the growth in the city's 
railroad facilities, and in the territory which it 
supplies with merchandise, were enormous. 



THE SITUATION 
IN 1890. 



54 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



During the decade the railroad mileage of Texas, 
which is one of the States which draws nearly all 
its supplies from this city, increased 147 per 
cent; those of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ar- 
kansas, three more States in St. Louis territory, 
more than doubled during the same period, 
while the Indian Territory railroad mileage 
increased nearly four-fold. The increase in 
Kansas, another distinctly St. Louis State, was 
about eighty per cent, and through the entire 
section tributary to St. Louis there was a gain 
of 21,000 miles, or about sixty-one per cent. The 
following table shows the general increase in 
mileage, tonnage and passenger traffic of the 
St. Louis railroads between the years of 1880 
and 1890. It was not prepared for the purpose 
of demonstrating the greatness of St. Louis, but 
is part of the official record of the census of 
1890: 















o 




o o 










o o o o 


^ 


o o 


^ 


^ 


O 1 














o 


o o 






o oo o 


5 o c 


<=■ o o 














o_ 


^J^ 






o_ o_ o_ o 


o o c 


O O w 


^ 












CO 


r-T Co" 






oo' CO ai" o 


co'.--' cc 


tM' oo' •:d 


03 












lO 


■rp X 






■rlH iO l^ C 


r-i 1:* IC 


O CO 07 


O 












00 


i?l fO 






00 T t^ CO 


lO CC CO 


CT 1^ to 


Lri 












oo" 


i6 <D 
1—1 






CO o"^"— 1 
l-H t~- a: (M 


-*' cfoc 

rt CO rH 


"" co' C3 :o 
C-l tM 










oo 


oo 






O O 












■ ■ 1 










o o 


oo 






: o o 




























oo. 


oo_ 






; O O 




















la 








tCo" 


O t-i" 






: 00 CD 




















1 








Ci »0 


tct^ 






: '^ OS 


























ot- 


OS c^ 






: I- m 






























































o'w" 


Aia 






IZ^ 


• 




















^ X !>. 








. 


"co Tf 


I— < 






















O t^ t^ 












l^ 1- 


o 




















0) 


00 CD CO 












■^ r- 


t^ 




















r^ 


'^icfo 












»o'r. 


•^ 




















^ 


l-< jq i-H 












COiG 


<M ; 




















t^ 


o o o o 


o o 


"oc 


: OO 


^^^ 


~oo 


"~00 : 


<a 


00 OS 


00 00 




00 o- 


: 00 o: 


: CO O 


00 05 


00 O 


o 


00 CO 


00 CO 




00 oc 


: CO OC 


: 00 00 


00 X 


00 00 : 


> 


I— 1 1— ( 


1— 1 .—1 


l-H l-H 


l-H I— 


: »-i l-H 


• i-H rH 


r-« r-t 


rH r~i 












tn 


: CO 
















." 




yi 
















































ai S 


c/i S 










! r/i 




'3 




S 












— o 


■« o 






: .^ 






o 

















§-3 


§^ 






•'5 


\ a 
■■ o 




hJ 




kJ 




C 








>^^ 


^*: 






: O 

i-1 


:^A 




_^- 




J 




w 








^ w 


^« 










t/5 




Ui 




































en 




« a 


tn ri 


{/ 




jm 


'.■Ji 




o 

-4-» 




o 




5 

K 
< 


*5 
o 






.2 m 

M.2 

1- 


'3 

3 


■ 


'■ 








a 




w 


m 




• J-. OJ 


•CS 


^ 


: '^ 


: a 








oT 




■ii S 


ii 


to 




: 3 








"n 




O 


.9 

"u 




So 

U CO 

11 


S.-5 




t 

3 


■ £ 

: 'u 
: +J 
: tn 

'. T3 

■ ca 
: O 


; m 

■ B 




en 

-a 
S 




tn 

Cl! 
O 
;-t 

"a 






a 




— oi 


.2 ca 


: u 






^ 




i-i 












■3 '' 






■ *5 




a 
o 




c 
o 














cn 


i 'o 






a 






o 

Vh 


) rt 




5' t; I 


2c 


> 4J M C 




) t 1 


a : 
' a ° 4) 


< 


'5 Q w.:: M 


(D ^ ffl 1- 
tj L !» . 


5 S 2 C 

CO ^ 




, o '^ CI 
tn J 


•J 


o s i£^ j;>s s o 


1- o 










a ^ 


►5^ ^ 




: w 5 




S .^.5? .^5? S 


^ 


so 


tn 


tn 




— a> u 1^ 1^ "T^ 


*4J 


"S 


tn 


tn 




T' u u. t. u '^ 


u 


u 


CO 


ct] 






5 




& 


..& 


H 





H U 


•t 


^ 


5 


n 




& 






P 






d 


* 


1 



These figures are bewildering in their vast- 
ness, especially when it is remembered that it is 
but a little more than forty years ago when work 
was commenced on the first railroad entering 
St. Louis. It is interesting at this period, arid 
in view of the marvelous achievements of St. 
Louis railroads, to glance back for a moment at 
the early efforts to secure railroad connection of 
any kind for St. Louis. After the Legislature 
of Missouri had in the year 1849 incorporated a 
railway company to build a road from St. Louis 
to Jefferson City, with a view to its being ex- 
tended out to the Pacific Ocean, local sentiment 
was inclined to be facetious as well as skeptical. 
During the last year or two there have been 
many prophets who have doubted the possibility 
of connecting St. Louis and Chicago by means 
of an electric railroad which would shorten the 
distance between the two cities so as to bring it 
down to a three-hours' journey. Forty-four years 
ago there were as many, if not more, people who 
were certain that the road then projected across 
the State would never be built. 

While people were discussing the 

impossibility of the project, Mr. 

Thomas Allen called a meeting of 
the incorporators at the St. Louis insurance 
rooms and delivered an address which forms 
"mighty interesting reading" at this time. 
Mr. Allen asked his hearers to imagine that the 
road had been constructed and opened for trafiic. 
" Let us enter," he said, "the depot or station- 
house, which is the largest house in the city. 
Here we see boxes of merchandise of all sizes, 
and various articles of household and family 
utensils, hogsheads of sugar, sacks of coffee and 
of salt, barrels of molasses and of whisky, kits 
of mackerel, boxes of raisins, bundles of paper, 
wagons in pieces and small carriages, kegs of 
nails, bars of iron, boxes of Indian goods, of 
shoes, hats, tar and turpentine, marked for the 
towns in the interior, and some for Deseret, all 
of which the men are at work placing in the freight 
train. There is none of that disorder and flurry 
which exists upon the levee, but all is neatness 
and order. 

"But the bell is ringing. We will take our 



A FORECAST . 
IN 1849. 



RAILROAD AND RIVER FACILITIES. 



55 



ticket and step aboard tlie passenger train with 
fifty or sixty otlier passengers who are destined 
for various points along the line of the road. 
Off we go, with the speed of twenty-fi\'e miles 
an hour. We lia\'e not gone five miles when 
the pace of the train is slacked and we observe 
one or two gentlemen jumping off at the su- 
burban residences. A few miles further is a 
platform and a turn-out. Here several are 
waiting to get off to go to their dwellings. 
Here also we observe a string of open cars laden 
with coal. We pass on, scarcely having time 
to observe the fine residences which city gen- 
tlemen have constructed all along each side of 
the road, but we stop every few moments to let 
off a passenger or two and take on as many 
more, so that our number is kept about the 
same. Here we pass a train loaded with wood, 
with a few cars of baled hay attached. The 
country on either side seems to be full of busy 
men and every farm occupied. Directly we 
reach a water station, where we observe im- 
mense piles of cord-wood, and many men en- 
gaged in hauling and cording. Here also is a 
small refreshment house, and here again we 
leave and take on a few passengers. 

"We come in sight of the Missouri, and catch 
a glimpse, as we pass, of a steamboat, with a 
small freight and a few passengers, puffing away 
and hard on a sand-bar. Soon we meet a freight 
train loaded with pigs of lead and copper and 
iron from Franklin county. In about two hours 
from St. Louis, we are at the Union Station, 
where we discharge a few passengers and ob- 
serve large piles of metal pigs. Though stop- 
ping now and then to leave or take on a pas- 
senger, or to supply the engine with water, we 
are soon in Gasconade county. We pass cars 
laden with cannel coal, and we discharge at 
Hermann Station a number of Germans and 
their baggage, and we observe some cars receiv- 
ing freight, some of it apparently pianos, and 
quite a number of pipes one would suppose to 
be wine — a;ll the manufacture of Hermann. 
We are come, however, to the crossing of the 
Gasconade, which is a grand bridge of solid ma- 
sonry of great strength and durability. Here 



is quite an important station, and we notice a 
number of new buildings going up on lots sold 
by the railway company, imniense quantities of 
yellow pine piled up, and a number of cars at- 
tached to an engine ready to start to St. Louis 
with a heavy load of lumber. 

"We cross the Lamine, stop at the Saline 
Station, and we are struck with the fine appear- 
ance of the country as we pass on and observe 
niimerous excellent farms. We leave a few 
passengers at Lexington Station, a few miles 
south of that place, and reach our station not 
far from the Kansas river (Kaw river) about tea- 
time, having been about ten hours from St. 
Louis. Here our remaining passengers, to the 
number of about twenty or thirty, dispose them- 
selves for the night at a good hotel, intending 
in the morning to be off for Independence, Lib- 
erty, Westport and St. Joseph, and other places 
up the river. The hotel is quite full of passen- 
gers, there being as many to go down as up, 
and in the station-house is a freight train ready 
to start. It was remarked that there was not 
less than a thousand tons of freight that day on 
this road. Now, although this be an imaginary 
trip, who can doubt, who knows anything of 
railroads, that the picture would be fully if not 
more than realized upon the opening of such a 
road? Can we do any better than to take the 
2,000 shares required preliminary to the per- 
manent organization? I am strong in the be- 
lief that if the road had been built but fifty 
miles, or if built to Jefferson City, it would pay." 
When Mr. Allen concluded 
this address he locked the door, 



A OLORIOUS 
REALIZATION. 



and, turning to those present, 
remarked that it was a time for acting and not 
speaking, adding a hope that the 2,000 shares 
of stock required would be subscribed for before 
the door was unlocked. One hundred thousand 
dollars in stock was required, for which Messrs. 
James H. Lucas, John O' Fallon and Daniel 
Page subscribed, and thus was laid the founda- 
tion-stone for a railroad which in itself has be- 
come a source of untold worth to vSt. Louis, and 
of a railroad systenr generally, which, as has 
been shown above, is equal or superior to that 



56 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



of an}' other city in the world. The St. Louis 
Traffic Commission, of which Mr. C. N. Osgood 
is executive officer, with the title of Commis- 
sioner, has enabled fnll benefit to be derived 
from the great railroad mileage of the city, and 
it is largely from the reports of Mr. Osgood that 
the data concerning these railroads centering in 
the city are taken. These railroads are: 

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. 

Bai,timore & Ohio. 

Chicago & Alton. 

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. 

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis ("The 
Big Four"). 

Illinois Central (via the Vandalia and Cairo Short 
Lines). 

Jacksonville Southeastern. 

Louisville & Nashville. 

Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis ("Air Line"). 

Missouri, Kans.\s & Tf:xas. 

Missouri Pacific. 

Mobile & Ohio. 

Ohio & Mississippi. 

St. Louis & Hannibal. 

St. Louis & San Francisco (" 'Frisco Line"). 

St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute ("Cairo Short 
Line"). 

St. Louis, Chicago & St. Paul ("Bluff Line"). 

St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern ("Iron 
Mountain"). 

St. Louis, Kansas City & Colorado. 

St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern ("Burlington 
Route"). 

St. Louis Southwestern ("Cotton Belt"). 

St. Louis, Vandalia S: Terre Haute ("Vandalia 
Line"). 

Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City ("Clover Leaf "). 

Wabash. 

These are exclusive of the transfer lines con- 
necting St. lyouis with the Relay depot on the 
other side of the Eads bridge. These are: 

The Terminal Railroad Association. 

The St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal. 

The WiGGIn's Ferry Company (and associated lines). 

The Madison County Ferry. 

Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis R. R. Ferry. 

Carondelet Ferry. 



In discussing in detail the 
various railroad connections 
of St. Louis, they will be 
dealt with in their alpha- 
betical order, as above; it being left to the 
reader to discriminate between the importance 



THE 

A TCHISON- 'FRISCO 

SYSTEM. 



of the various systems, and to decide which 
would be first discussed, were-the classification by 
order of merit. The first on the list is the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santc Fe, which, by the 
absorption of the St. Louis & San Francisco 
road, some three years ago, obtained a direct 
entrance to the city, and made St. Louis one of 
the terminal points of the great system which 
controls over 11,000 miles of railroad, extending 
to California on the west, Texas and Old Mex- 
ico on the south, and the lakes on the north. 
The amalgamation of the two systems gave 
St. Louis another route to the Pacific Coast and 
also to Old Mexico, and, in addition to that, it 
greatly increased the railroad facilities between St. 
Lotiis and Oklahoma. By means of the 'Frisco 
branch to Sapulpa, St. Louis has railroad facil- 
ities without change of cars, to the northeast 
corner of Oklahoma, while the 'Frisco Southern 
Kansas line, with the Atchison connection at 
Arkansas City, affords a direct communication 
with Guthrie and Oklahoma, the two largest 
cities in the exceptionally prosperotis and thriving 
Territory, concerning whose marvelous growth 
figures have been already quoted. The 'Frisco 
mileage alone covers 1,500 miles, mainly through 
the States of Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas 
and the Indian Territory. It affords rapid and 
convenient connection between St. Lotiis and 
all parts of central and Southwestern Missotiri, 
and it also sends out from St. Louis daily 
throttgh sleeping cars to the City of Mexico and, 
to California. The quantity of freight shipped 
into St. Louis by the 'Frisco was 551,000 tons 
in 1892, as compared with 48(3,000 in 1891 and 
437,000 in 1890. During the same three j'cars 
the shipments from St. Louis increased from 
,HI7,000 tons to 409,000 tons. The immense 
cjuautity of raw material, lead and zinc, oil and 
similar products, accounts for the fact that in 
four years the shipments into St. Louis in- 
creased fully sixty per cent. 

The Chicago & Alton 
Railroad is a line verj' pop- 
ttlar locally. It has only 850 
miles of track, l)nt e\-ery mile is a good one, 
and the connections with Chicago and Kansas 



THE CHICAGO AND 
ALTON. 



RAILROAD AND RIVER FACILITIES. 



57 



THE '• BURLINGTON 
ROUTE." 



City are a source of sjreat profit to St. Louis 
couiuierce, as the territory through which tlie 
road passes is rich in the extreme and an ever- 
increasing source of trade. During the last two 
or three years it has made vast improvements in 
its train service, and the admirable condition in 
which its ballasted track is kept is a source of 
general pride to all connected with the road. It 
hauls in iunnense quantities of coal and of grain, 
stock and fruit products, and it also affords ad- 
mirable connection with Wisconsin and Michi- 
gan and se\eral Eastern States. A great 
portion of its road has been double-tracked 
recently, and the road is in a condition of great 
prosperity. In 1892 it hauled into the city 
12(;, ()()() tons of freight, as compared with 102,000 
tons four years ago. During the same year, 
1892, it distributed 103,000 tons of St. Louis 
merchandise, as compared with 91,000 tons in 
1889. 

The " Burlington," or 
the "Q," is becoming 
more and more a St. Louis 
road. Its management has of late years been 
thoroughly impressed with the importance of 
St. Louis as a shipping point, and the invest- 
ments that have been made with a view to 
increasing connections with the city have run 
into the millions. This route by its own 
rails affords connection with the best parts 
of Illinois and Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Ne- 
braska, Kansas, South Dakota, Wyoming and 
Colorado. In addition to this, it reaches by 
track of its own nearly every important busi- 
ness center between St. Louis and the Rocky 
mountains and Lake Michigan. Including the 
St. Louis, Keokuk & Western, the quantity 
of freight hauled into the city in 1<S92 was 
nearly 1,000,000 tons. In its shipments out of 
St. Louis the total tonnage reached 70(),0()0, an 
increase from 405,000 four years ago, showing 
how immensely the distributing business has in- 
creased. Tlie management of this road has 
chafed for years under what it considered its in- 
adequate terminal facilities at St. Louis. Its 
East vSt. Louis freight terminal was extensive, 
but not sufficient to answer its purpose, and at 



a heavy outlay a site was secured on this side 
of the river for a freight house. It has erected 
and is now oiDcrating on this property one of the 
most convenient freight houses in the world. 
This has a frontage on Eranklin avenue of 140 
feet, and the brick building, which is four 
stories high, runs back 38 feet. The freight 
shed is 770 feet in length, and there is thus 
space, under cover, for five tracks, each capa- 
ble of accommodating twenty cars. In other 
words, a hundred cars of merchandise can be 
handled under cover; a most important condition 
in bad weather, especially with perishable 
freight. Adjoining, there is accommodation for 
about 150 cars on team tracks. This road is 
also connecting itself with St. Louis by means 
of a road on this side of the river running 
north, crossing the Missouri river at Alton over 
bridges, to which reference will be made later. 
When this new track is opened an immense 
volume of business will be diverted to and 
through St. Louis, and the present freight re- 
turns will soon be made to look insignificant. 

The Cleveland, Cincinnati & 
Chicago Railway, known both 
as the "Three C.'s" and the 
"Big Four," crosses the States of Illinois, In- 
diana and Ohio. The "Big Four" system 
has recently acquired control of the Cincin- 
nati, Sandusky & Cleveland R. R., Cincinnati, 
Wabash & Michigan Ry. and Whitewater 
R. R. The consolidation of the numerous 
independent lines of which this s\stem is 
now composed has been a matter of much 
benefit to St. Louis, resulting as it has in 
large improvements in transporting facilities. 
The effect has been shown in the traflic re- 
turns. The road is now hauling into the city 
more than half a million tons of merchandise 
every year, and distributing St. Louis products 
weighing upwards of 300,000 tons per annum. 
It hauls into the city every year about 5,000,- 
000 bushels of coal, and in many other 
ways contributes towards the city's prosjaerity 
and grov.'th. 

The Jacksonville Southeastern Railroad (the 
"J. S. E.") is a smaller line, which, however, 



THE 
'BIG FOUR." 



58 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



THE LOUISVILLE 

AND 

NASHVILLE. 



is quite important to the city. Its career has not 
been an entirely fortunate one, and during the 
current year a receiver was appointed to protect 
certain interests. This was not in consequence 
of any lack of patronage, as its freight ship- 
ments increased over 100,000 tons in 1892. The 
road is entitled to the thanks of the city for the 
early enterprise it displayed in establishing ter- 
minals on this side of the river, and in the early 
future the road will acquire a prosperity to 
which it is at present a stranger. 

The Louisville & Nash- 
ville Railroad is of far 
greater importance than its 
name would indicate. It 
connects St. Louis with the Southern and South- 
eastern sections, and it operates considerably 
more than three thousand miles of track in the 
very best regions of the New South. In addition 
to very valuable connections in Illinois and 
Indiana, the L. & N. connects with all the 
leading centers of Kentucky, Tennessee and 
Alabama, and also runs into the States of Flor- 
ida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Virginia. In 
addition to its St. Louis terminus it has termini 
at Memphis, Mobile, Pensacola, New Orleans 
and other points; and among the commercial 
centers of the South through which it runs are 
Nashville and Birmingham. From St. Louis 
the L- & N. runs through the exceptionall}' fer- 
tile region of Southern Illinois and Indiana, 
crossing the Ohio river at Henderson, Ken- 
tucky, the Cumberland river at Clarksville, and 
reaching the Mississippi again at Memphis. At 
Nashville the main line from St. Louis connects 
with the Louisville and Cincinnati line and runs 
on to Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, New 
Orleans and Pensacola. The new work of the 
L- & N., in the way of railroad building, has 
been mainly in Southwest Kentucky, Tennessee 
and Virginia during the last few years. The 
road is a most valuable one for the exportation 
of St. Louis products to the Spanish- American 
countries, and it is a great favorite with export- 
ers. Last year it shipped from St. Louis nearly 
2(U),000 tons of freight as compared with 207,000 
tons the preceding year, and it also brought 



THE "AIR LINE " AND 
THE M. K. & T. 



into the city r)5(i,000 tons, an increase of nearly 
200,000 tons in two years. • It is also interest- 
ing to note that it hauled into the city about 
7,000,000 bushels of coal in 1892 as compared 
with about 4,000,000 in 1890. The L. & N. is 
another of the roads which has appreciated the 
necessity of terminal facilities on the west side 
of the Mississippi river. Having acquired a 
block of property bounded by Broadway, Cass 
avenue, Dickson and Collins streets, it proceeded, 
toward the end of the year 1891, to construct a 
two-story freight house measuring 5(58x50 feet. 
The first floor has forty-two doors available for 
the receipt and delivery of team freight, and 
the adjoining team tracks afford every facility 
for business. The second story runs the entire 
length of the structure and is designed for the 
warehousing of freight. 

The "Air Line," as the 
Louisville, Evansville & 
St. Louis Consolidated 
Railway Company is generally called, connects 
St. Louis with Louisville, running through a 
very important and prosperous section of South- 
ern Illinois and Indiana. ' It has hauled into 
St. Louis an immense quantity of merchandise 
and raw material, the tonnage having grown 
from 2(;o,000 in 1889 to 46(5,000 in 1892. It 
has done less work in way of distribution of 
manufactured product. In 1889 it distributed 
less than 10,000 tons of St. Louis-manufactured 
goods. Since then the export business has in- 
creased ten-fold, but it has not yet acquired 
very large proportions. During 1892 it hauled 
into the city nearly 10,000,000 bushels of coal. 
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway is of 
greater interest to St. Louis on account of fut- 
ure prospects than actual developments. Within 
a comparatively short space of time the track 
connecting this system to St. Louis will be com- 
pleted, bringing the enormous mileage of this 
system more directly within reach of the city's 
manufactures and staples. The principal offices 
of the company are already situated in St. Louis, 
a recognition of the fact that the States of Mis- 
souri, Kansas and Texas, from which the road 
takes its name, and from which it runs, are dis- 



RAILROAD AND RIVER FACILITIES. 



59 



IHE BALTIMORE 
AND OHIO. 



tinctly St. Louis territory. The greatest mile- 
age of this road is in Texas, where it exceeds 
800 miles. It has also 375 miles in Kansas, 300 
miles in Missouri, and 240 miles in the Indian 
Territory. The completion of the track to St. 
lyOnis with independent terminals will make 
this the terminal city of a road which cannot 
fail in the early future to play an immense part 
in the destinies of St. Louis commerce. 

The Baltimore & Ohio Rail- 
road, which includes the Ohio 
& Mississippi, has become 
more distinctly a St. Louis road during the pres- 
ent year by the removal here of the offices of 
the company which were formerly situated at 
Cincinnati. In November, 1893, the offices were 
finally removed to the Rialto building, where 
the general passenger and general freight agents 
and managers took up their headquarters. The 
change was another admission on the part of 
experts of the standing of St. Louis as a railroad 
center, and the influence will be great on the 
policy of the road. The Baltimore & Ohio 
Southwestern Railroad by its absorption of the 
Ohio & Mississippi has a mileage of 930 iniles, 
extending from St. Louis to Parkersburgh, West 
Virginia. The old Ohio & Mississippi proper 
extends from St. Louis to Cincinnati, a distance 
of 340 miles, with several branches which con- 
nect the city with various Illinois, Indiana 
and Kentucky points. The consolidation gives 
St. Louis another direct route to the Atlantic 
sea-board, and will result at an early date in 
greatly increased railroad facilities between this 
city and New York. It is too early to estimate 
what the influence will be on the shipping re- 
turns. The Ohio & Mississippi hauled in nearly 
700, 000 tons of freight in 1892, including 
12, (ISO, 000 bushels of coal. It took from the 
city nearly 170,000 tons of merchandise as com- 
pared with 130,000 tons in 1.S90. 

It cannot be said too fre- 
quently that the history of 
the Missouri Pacific Rail- 
way is the liistory of the 
development of modern St. Louis. This chap- 
ter, dealing as it does with the present rather 



THE 
MISSOURI PACIFIC 
SYSTEM. 



than with the past, is not the place to trace that 
history in all its details. We have seen how 
Ma^or Darby lent impetus and weight to the 
railroad agitation nearly sixty years ago, and 
how Mr. Thomas Allen in 1849 drew an imagi- 
nary picture ofthe road then contemplated, which 
he believed would pay as a line connecting St. 
Louis and Jefferson City. In June, 18r)3, the 
first section of the railroad, extending to Frank- 
lin, was opened, and in 18.").J Jefferson City was 
reached. 

How insignificant do these little details 
seem compared with the events of to-day, when 
the Missouri Pacific and its connections inter- 
sect the best sections of the St. Louis territory! 
The Iron Mountain road was chartered some- 
what later, and in 18;'J8 the road was opened as 
far as Pilot Knob. In 1872 the road reached 
the Arkansas boundary, and since then its ex- 
tensions have been numerous. A glance at the 
map now shows that the Missouri Pacific owned, 
leased and operated lines connect a greater por- 
tion of the State of Missouri with St. Louis, 
bring a still larger portion of Kansas in touch with 
the city, and also provide excellent facilities for 
Nebraska, Colorado, Arkansas, Louisiana and 
other States. St. Louis is the great terminus of 
this mighty system, and the work it does is 
best shown by the following figures, which have 
been extracted from the annual reports of recent 
years: 

In 1885 the roads in this system hauled into 
St. Louis about 1,300,000 tons out of a total of 
7,497,093 tons by all roads. In 1.S89 it brought 
in rather more than 1,800,000 tons ; in 1892 the 
total tonnage by the Missouri Pacific system ex- 
ceeded 2,250,000 tons, or more than twenty per 
cent of the entire receipts from all sources. Last 
year again it distributed no less than l,2(!fi,000 
tons of St. Louis merchandise throughout the 
St. Louis territory, this being again about 
twenty per cent of the total. With these figures 
before him the reader will not think Traffic 
Commissioner Osgood's eulogy of this road over- 
drawn. "This great S)'stem," he said, in his 
annual report for the year 1891, " )-early be- 
comes more and more a factor in the commercial 



60 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



progress of this city. It has ever been among 
the first to extend its lines into new territory, 
thns constantly opening up to the commerce of 
St. lyouis, the pivotal point of the entire system, 
and, therefore, the point with which its vast 
interests are chiefly identified, new fields of agri- 
culture, mining, timber and stock-raising, bring- 
ing the rich products of the entire West and 
Southwest directly under contribution to her 
trade. The significance of the situation can be 
in a measure appreciated when it is stated that 
its lines traverse 5,300 miles of productive ter- 
ritory. It will be better understood when it is 
seen that by its rails St. Louis is given direct 
connection with the commercial centers and rich 
farms of Missouri; the broad corn and wheat 
fields and prosperous communities of Kansas; 
the fertile river valleys and trade centers of the 
richest districts of Nebraska; the mineral regions 
and chief cities of Colorado; the agricultural, 
fruit, mineral and timber lands of Arkansas; 
the rapidly increasing populations of the pro- 
ductive Indian Territory (which at no far dis- 
tant day is to become equal in prosperity with 
any of the States on its borders ) ; the sugar plan- 
tations of Louisiana, and the cotton and grain 
fields and vast cattle ranges of Texas. Through 
its connections it reaches to every other principal 
part of the West and Southwest, including the Pa- 
cific slope and Mexico. Its through passenger 
service to all these districts isadjusted with special 
reference to the requirements of the St. Louis 
traveler; and as this is the gateway to the entire 
system, St. Louis becomes the point upon which 
the travel from the East destined to these districts 
naturally converges. During the year 1891 
over 200 miles of new road were constructed and 
added to the system, perhaps the most impor- 
tant portion being the Houston, Central Ar- 
kansas and Northern line, which will be in 
operation to Alexandria, Louisiana, its junction 
with the Texas and Pacific Railway, as soon as 
the magnificent bridge by means of which it 
will cross the Red river at that point is com- 
pleted. This will give St. Louis immediate di- 
rect connection with New Orleans and the Gulf. 
St. Louis is the headquarters for the official staff 



of the company, and is the point from which all 
its operations are directed." . 

The Mobile & Ohio 
Railway is an important 



THREE VALUABLE 
SOUTHERN ROADS. 



trunk line connecting St. 
Louis with the South. It runs through the States 
of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and 
Alabama, having its southern terminus at the 
port of Mobile, 644 miles from St. Louis. Its 
trains haul into St. Louis immense quan- 
tities of cotton, lumber, vegetables and fruit, in 
addition to about 4,000,000 bushels of coal every 
year. It has freight headquarters in St. Louis, 
in a building erected and owned by it for the 
purpose. The very best sections of what is now 
called the New South are traversed by the Mo- 
bile & Ohio and its branches, and its influence 
on the commerce of the city is marked. It 
brings in nearly 700,000 tons of merchandise 
every year, and takes away immense quantities 
of manufactured goods. A very large percent- 
age of the Spanish- American trade is transacted 
over this road. From its southern terminus 
there are regular steamship lines to Tampa, Key 
West, Havana, Tampico, and other points, in 
addition to a steamship service to both New 
York and European ports. 

The ' ' Cairo Short Line, ' ' or, more properly, the 
St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railway, oper- 
ates nearly 250 miles of road through a territory 
which is tributary to St. Louis in every respect. 
It crosses the Southern Illinois coal fields, and 
hauls in 12,000,000 or 13,000,000 bushels of 
coal every year. It connects with the Illinois 
Central, and gives a direct route between vSt. 
Louis and Memphis and the most important 
points in the Southern Mississippi Valley. Dur- 
ing the last two or three years it has inaugu- 
rated a number of improvements, which have 
shortened the distance between St. Louis and a 
large number of important points. The com- 
pany also operates a line between St. Louis and 
Paducah, Kentucky, connecting with diverging 
lines, also with boats on the Ohio, Tennessee 
and Cumberland rivers. The recent completion 
of the Paducah, Tennessee & Alabama R. R., 
built by St. Louis capitalists, from Paducah to 



RAILROAD AND RIVER FACILITIES. 



61 



Hollow Rock, Tennessee, has opened up a new 
territory to this market, and through a connec- 
tion with the N., C. & St. L. Ry. at Hollow 
Rock, Tennessee, has formed a new short route 
to the Southeast. The policy of the manage- 
ment of this line is liberal, and it has at all times 
been found to be alive to the interests of the 
trade and commerce of St. lyouis. The head- 
quarters of the company are located here, and 
the local facilities have been largely improved 
by the erection of a new freight warehouse, and 
otherwise. 

The St. Louis Southwestern Railway, for- 
merly known as the St. L,ouis, Arkansas & 
Texas, but almost invariably described as the 
"Cotton Belt," is a St. Louis line, with its 
headquarters in this city, where its principal 
officers reside. The 1,200 miles of its track are 
of immense value to St. Louis, for they bring 
within easy access of the city a large number 
of important towns and a vast area of territory 
tributary in every respect to St. Loiiis. The 
mileage of the main system is 580 in Missouri 
and Arkansas, 40 in Louisiana, and 640 in 
Texas. But by the number of its important 
connections its importance to St. Louis is largely 
enhanced. Its own rails reach a group of the 
most popular and progressive cities of the South- 
west, viz.: Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Camden, 
Arkansas; Texarkana; Shreveport, Louisiana; 
Fort Worth, Waco, T\ler, Corsicana, Green- 
ville and Sherman, Texas. Lumber, cotton and 
live stock are the items of freight it contril^utes 
most largely to the St. Louis market, in ad- 
dition to all the other products of agricultural 
sections it traverses. 

The Vandalia, or the 
Terre Haute & Indianapolis 
Railroad, is another of the 
very extensive systems con- 
necting St. Louis with the eastern roads. Run- 
ning between St. Louis and Indianapolis, it there 
connects with the great Pennsylvania system. 
It has also connections between St. Joseph, 
Michigan, and Terre Haute, Indiana, and thus 
becomes valuable to St. Louis connnerce in a 
variety of ways. This road also handles 



TO THE ATLANTIC 

AND 

THE LAKES. 



St. Louis freight destined for the Erie system, 
and its business has become so great of late years 
that during 1891 and 1892 it found it necessary 
to build and open a large freight depot on this 
side of the river between O' Fallon street and 
Cass avenue. The Vandalia hauls into St. Louis 
every year 11,000,000 or 12,000,000 bushels of 
coal, and its general freight business is also 
very large. 

The Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City Rail- 
way, known as the "Clover Leaf," forms an 
important factor in the St. Louis railroad sys- 
tem. It runs a distance of 4.^)0 miles to Toledo, 
Ohio, also operating over 2.'")0 miles of water lines 
between Toledo and Buffalo. This road con- 
nects St. Louis directly with Buffalo, Toledo, 
Belfast, Decatur, Marian, Kokomo, Frankfort, 
and many other important towns, besides pass- 
ing through a very large area in which com- 
merce and manufacture are both well repre- 
sented. Since the gauge of this road has been 
changed from narrow to standard, its impor- 
tance has largely increased, and it has improved 
its St. Louis connection by constructing a very 
useful freight depot on the west side of the river 
between Broadway and Second street, at the 
intersection of Brooklyn. A great increase in 
business has resulted from this enterprise, and 
the popularity of the road in St. Louis is very 
great. 

The last of the St. Louis 
roads which will be men- 
tioned specifically is the 
Wabash, which connects St. Louis with twenty- 
one cities, each of a population more than 
10,000, and a total population of 2,500,000. 
The Wabash Eastern and the Wabash Western, 
which are now combined under one manage- 
ment, have 731 miles in Illinois, 500 in Mis- 
souri, nearly 400 in Indiana, 125 in Iowa, 105 
in Ohio, and 80 in Michigan, figures which 
show very plainly the immense value of the 
sj'stem to St. Louis. Every day it starts through 
sleeping cars from the Mississippi to the princi- 
pal cities on the Atlantic sea-board and Canada; 
to the principal cities on the shores of the 
northern lakes; to Chicago, St. Paul, Minne- 



TtiE WABASH 
SYSTEM. 



62 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



apolis, Des Moines, and Denver, to say nothing 
of the hundreds of intervening points. The 
through freight service is unique in its com- 
pleteness; so much so that its cars bring into 
the city every year nearly 1,000,000 tons of 
freight, distributing more than 500, (HH) tons 
of merchandise. It brings from the Illi- 
nois coal fields over 7,000,000 bushels of coal 
yearly, and the returns from all sources are con- 
tinually increasing. This is strictly a St. Louis 
road, with headquarters in the city. It has 
within the last two or three years greatly in- 
creased its freight terminal facilities on this side 
of the river. The old switching yard on North 
Market street has been changed into a large 
loading and unloading yard, and an outside yard, 
with a capacity of a thousand cars, has been 
established just east of Bellefontaine cemetery. 
This road has excellent terminal facilities and 
entrances to the city, and thus is able to haul 
unlimited quantities of merchandise without 
difficulty. 

One of the most signifi- 
cant tributes paid to New 



THE EADS BRIDQB 
AND TERMINALS. 



St. Louis since it emerged 
from comparative dullness, has been in the in- 
creased terminal facilities provided by the rail- 
roads centering in the city and by the large 
increase in the numlser of roads having freight 
depots on this side of the river. As far as possible 
controversial subjects are avoided in this work, 
but it is impossible to overlook the fact that the 
bridge and terminal monopoly which prevailed 
for ten or fifteen years was prejudicial to the 
city's commercial growth. It seems ungener- 
ous to state this in plain words and without an 
explanation, for it is obvious that, although this 
monopoly retarded progress and enterprise, the 
facilities provided by the Eads bridge have been 
worth, and are still worth, countless millions to 
the city. This bridge is one of the great things 
familiarity with which has bred, if not contempt, 
at least neglect of appreciation. Its construc- 
tion was a work of enterprise of the most 
noble character, and the bridge itself is one of 
the finest in the world. The bridge was built 
on solid rock, and it is an invulnerable fortress, 



capable of bearing almost any weight and with- 
standing the force of any flood. It consists of 
three graceful arches of steel, each 520 feet in 
length. Huge piles of masonry rest on solid 
rock, and the piers are between 91 and 127 feet 
below high-water mark. The masonry in this 
bridge measured 69,000 cubic yards; the iron 
used weighed 6,300,000 pounds, and the steel 
arches came within two-thirds of that weight. 
The bridge is two-stories high, the first story 
being used by railroads, and the upper story 
forming a splendid highway for vehicles between 
St. Louis and East St. Louis, and the States of 
Missouri and Illinois. Something not contem- 
plated by the designers has lately been added, 
and an electric road now affords additional facil- 
ities of communication between St. Louis and 
its thriving suburb on the east side of the river. 
The bridge is 2,225 feet long between its abut- 
ments, and its clearance above the St. Louis 
directrix is 55 feet. It took seven years to con- 
struct and was finally finished in 1874. In the 
same year the tunnel was constructed connect- 
ing the eastern approach at the foot of Wash- 
ington avenue with the Mill Creek Valley, and 
a union passenger depot was established. 

We have said that much as the management 
of this bridge has been criticised from time to 
time, the value of the bridge to the city's com- 
merce has been enormous. The unfortunate feat- 
ure was the terminating of the roads from the 
East on the east side of the river. Freight from 
the East was billed for years to East St. Louis and 
brought over the ri\-er by the company owning 
the bridge and terminal facilities. In addition 
to the sentimental objection to a city of the 
first class being ignored in bills of lading and 
receiving from the East second-hand through a 
comparatively small city, the commerce of the 
city was handicapped by the additional charges, 
and as New St. Louis gained strength and form 
the clamor for additional bridge facilities to de- 
stroy the monopoly became very strong. In 
l.s.S(; the Merchants' Exchange, which had been 
giving the matter attention for years, brought 
the agitation to a focus, and a committee was 
formed, consisting of Messrs. S. W. Cobb, C. C. 



RAILROAD AND RIVER FACILITIES. 



63 



Rainwater, John R. Holmes, John Whittaker, 
D. R. Francis, John D. Perry and John M. Gil- 
keson. This committee sncceeded in obtaining 
a charter from Congress, which was approved 
by President Cleveland in Febrnary, 1887. In 
June of the same year the necessary franchise 
for terminals was obtained from the city of 
St. Louis, and general rejoicing at the certainty 
of early emancipation from the difficulties com- 
plained of were tlie result. On April 24, 1886, 
Messrs. S. W. Cobb, John R. Holmes, John M. 
Gilkeson and C. C. Rainwater filed the neces- 
sary application with the Secretary of State for 
the incorporation of St. lyouis Merchants' Bridge 
Company, and on April 2()th the company's 
subscription books were opened. 

The act of Congress al- 
THB SECOND BRIDGE , , , * , 

ready referred to author- 

ACROSS • j\i ^ ^- r 

ized the construction of 

THE MISSISSIPPI. .1, 1 -I ■ 1 J 4-1 4. 

the bridge provided that 

no bridge should be constructed across the Mis- 
sissippi river within two miles above or below 
the Eads bridge, and as the result of this restric- 
tion, which in many ways has proved advan- 
tageous to the city, the new bridge was planned 
in the northern manufacturing section. A bridge 
without terminals would be of little value, and 
hence the application to the municipal author- 
ities for franchise for terminal tracks; the rights 
were freely given, and have since been extended, 
with a result that the company has been able to 
complete the system of very admirable termi- 
nals. The St. lyouis Merchants' Bridge Termi- 
nal Railway Company was formally established 
in August, 1887. The length of the railroad 
was specified in the charter as fourteen miles, 
and the life of the corporation was fixed at fifty 
years. Work was commenced on the bridge 
early in 1<S89, and was completed the same 
year, the bridge being ojjened for traffic in ISDO. 
It is a handsome light structure of immense 
strength. The piers rest on hard limestone 
rock which was leveled for the purpose and thor- 
oughly cleaned of all new shale, clay and sand. 
The caissons were solidly packed with concrete, 
and limestone from Bedford, Indiana, was used 
to within three feet of the low-water line; above 



this level to the high-water line Missouri granite 
is used, and above this, Bedford limestone. The 
dimension stone was laid in Portland cement 
mortar, and the backing in lyOuisville cement. 
In order to make a less abrupt break in the grade 
between the level grade of the bridge and that 
of the approaches, the two river piers were 
raised so that the clear height in the center of 
the central span is fift}'-two feet above high 
water, instead of fifty feet as required by the act 
of Congress, and the height at the end of the 
shore sj^ans is about four inches less. This gives 
a much better bridge from a navigation stand- 
point than the law contemplated. 

On the west end of the bridge the approach 
crosses Ferry street twice. The crossing near- 
est the bridge is made by a viaduct resting on 
cylinder piers; the crossing furthest from the 
bridge is a deck span 125 feet long resting on 
masonry piers. There is one other street o\er- 
liead crossing which is made by masonry abut- 
ments and steel girders. The intermediate 
space between the structures are either solid 
earthwork or a substantial timber trestle. On 
the east end of the bridge, between the 425-foot 
length of permanent structure and the over- 
head crossing at the Chicago & Alton, Bee Line 
and Wabash railroads, and east of this last 
named structure to the earth embankment, the 
intermediate spaces are filled with a wooden 
trestle. The bridge at the crossing of these 
three railroads is made by two masonry abut- 
inents on which rest a 175-foot span and a 
40-foot steel girder. The entire bridge and ap- 
proaches is built for double track. The st)'le of 
the three spans of the main bridge is a double 
intersection piu-connected truss with horizontal 
bottom-chord and a curved top-chord. The 
entire structure is of steel, except pedestals and 
ornamental parts, which are of cast-iron, and 
nuts, swi\'els and clevises, which are of wrought 
iron. The steel was required to stand an ulti- 
mate tensile strain in the sample bar from 
68,000 to 70,000 pounds per square inch, with 
an elastic limit of not less than 38,000 pounds. 
Finished bars, selected by the engineer, were 
subjected to a breaking test, the requirement 



64 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



being an elongation of ten per cent before break- 
ing. The strnctnres are so proportioned that 
under all possible conditions the material cannot 
be subjected to injurious strain. 

At the end of the east 
ajDproach there are three 



THE MERCHANTS' 
BRIDGE TERMINALS. 



connecting lines, one to 
the north, connecting with the three railroads 
above mentioned; and one to the east, on the 
line of the east approach extended, connecting 
with the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City Rail- 
road; one to the south, connecting with the 
Venice & Carondelet Belt Railway and the 
East St. Louis & Carondelet Railway, through 
which belt railroads connection is made with 
the Vandalia, the Ohio & Mississippi, Louis- 
ville & Nashville, and all other roads which 
reach St. Louis. 

The west approach connects with the Wabash 
Railroad, and also with the lines of the St. Louis 
Transfer Company. The system also has a con- 
nection with the Chicago & Burlington Rail- 
road on both sides of the river, and is connected 
with the St. Louis & San Francisco and other 
railroads. By franchises more recently ob- 
tained, it has acquired the right to construct a 
belt line circling the city, and crossing every 
road entering it from the west. A great deal of 
work has already been done on this road, and 
the improvement in shipping facilities is 
marked. The ^lerchants' bridge is connected 
with the Mill Creek Valley tracks and the 
Union depot by means of an elevated structure 
along the river front and across the intervening 
city blocks. By means of this connection, it is 
probable that in the early future an overhead 
route will be established between the river and 
the Union depot for all passenger trains. This 
probability has been increased during the last 
year by the establishment of a modus vivcndi 
between the two bridge and terminal companies. 
While the Merchants' Bridge and Terminal 
Company was increasing the city's terminal 
facilities, the older corporation also showed 
great enterprise, immensely increasing the mile- 
age of its tracks and the extent of its accommo- 
dations. During the year 1893 it was found 



that unnecessary expense was being incurred 
in duplicate systems of terminals, and an agree- 
ment was arri\-ed at whereby the competition 
between the two S}stems was terminated. It 
must be left to future historians to decide whether 
this step was an unmixed blessing to the city 
or not. It is an event of too recent occurrence 
to be dispassionately considered at this time of 
writing. Opponents of the amalgamation con- 
demn it as the re-establishment of a monopoly 
which it took seven or eight years of work to 
overcome, and to this feeling may be attributed 
a revival in the fall and winter of 18i)3 of the 
project to construct a third bridge across the 
Mississippi at St. Louis. A charter was ob- 
tained for a bridge in Carondelet several years 
ago, and soundings which have been made 
within the last few weeks indicate that the pro- 
ject has not been entirely abandoned. 

The amalgamation or absorption, whichever 
may be the correct legal term, is defended by the 
parties most interested and also by a large sec- 
tion of the business community, on the ground 
that the combined system of terminals with two 
bridges, will afford facilities for the rapid hand- 
ling of merchandise unequaled in the past. The 
influence of the Merchants' bridge, and of the 
agitation against the billing of freight to East 
St. Louis from the East, has been seen in the 
immense number of freight depots on this side 
of the river, which have been constructed during 
the last three years. These depots will continue 
to play an important part in the railroad busi- " 
ness of the city, in spite of the removal of com- 
petition between the two bridges. It takes 
more than a few months to change customs in 
force for years, and the freight depots on the 
west side are only just beginning to be apjire- 
ciated at their full worth. Another argument, 
strongly in favor of the amalgamation which 
has just been effected, has relation to passenger 
trafBc. The immense number of passenger 
trains between St. Louis and eastern points has 
caused the capacity of the tunnel to be over- 
taxed, and for other reasons an overhead route 
to the new Union depot would be hailed with 
o-eneral satisfaction. According to the theories 



RAILROAD AND RIVER FACILITIES. 



65 



TWO NEW BRIDGES 
IN 1894. 



of well-informed railroad ineii, a large propor- 
tion of the passenger traffic would be diverted 
to the ]\Ierchants' bridge and would proceed 
from its western approach, either by means of 
the elevated railroad already referred to, or by 
the belt road, which would take the trains in a 
westerly direction, aud bring them into the 
Union depot from the west. This latter route 
would necessarily increase the distance some- 
what, but it would take passengers through the 
residence portions of the city, and make little 
difference in the time occupied by the journey. 

The railroad and bridge 
facilities of the city will 
be largely strengthened by 
the new bridges in course of construction across 
the Mississippi and Missouri rivers a few miles 
north of St. Louis. One of these is known as 
the Bellefontaine bridge, and crosses the Mis- 
souri river three and a half miles from the ]\Iis- 
sissippi. The bridge, which is rapidly ap- 
proaching completion, is a splendid structure, 
about 1,780 feet in length. It is supported by 
five piers, and will be a bridge of exceptional 
strength. The other bridge is at Alton, over 
the INIississippi river. It is also being rapidly 
pushed forward to completion, and will be used 
as a means of securing a northern inlet to the 
city for the ' ' Burlington ' ' and other roads. The 
influence of these bridges on the railroad sys- 
tem of the city and its eastern and northern 
connections will be enormous, and already it 
is being felt in a variety of ways. At Alton, 
they have enlivened the real estate market and 
encouraged the laying out of additions. That 
there will be many more is a certain fact. The 
"Burlington" is famous for fostering its su- 
burban traffic and, out of Chicago especially, 
gives particular attention to it. The plan of 
building up such business is to be adhered to 
here, and it is easy to prophesy that within two 
or three years we shall see the entire line of the 
road between St. L,ouis and Alton built up with 
lovely suburban homes. Many have alreadv 
taken advantage of the prospect in view and 
bought large tracts of land with the ultimate 
purpose of making suburban tracts of them, 



while some others have built upon the wayside, 
hoping to reap their reward after many years. 
It has been announced that the " Big Four," the 
Chicago & Alton and the "Burlington" sys- 
tems will use the Alton and Bellefontaine 
bridges. There are others also who have come 
into the fold since, and have contracted, or will 
contract, to use them. Besides the ]\I. K. & E. 
and the M. K. & T. systems, together with the 
St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern on the south, 
there is also the St. Louis & San Francisco to 
use it for east aud west-bound freights, and it is 
surmised that another one will before long make 
a contract with the owners of the two bridges. 
From the north and east, in addition to those 
already named, there are the Jacksonville South- 
eastern, which will probably come into Alton 
direct by the "Bluff Line;" the "Santa Fe," 
which will come by the same route; possibly the 
Illinois Central also, via the "Bluff Line;" 
while the Wabash will build to the Belt Line, 
via Edwardsville crossing, and connect with 
the bridges; and it is quite likely that the Penn- 
sylvania will build from Highland or Green- 
ville, which lie directly east of Alton, and use 
the bridges as the rest will. In any event, it is 
certain that they will have plenty of traffic and 
be a most important factor in the commerce of 
St. Louis, as well as of Alton. 

The two bridges, it is understood, are to be 
free, except a yearly rental charged roads not in- 
terested in the building of them, and rates may 
be made independent of the Eads, Merchants' or 
any other method of crossing the Mississippi. 
At Lamothe Place there is to be an important 
transfer station with plenty of side-tracks, 
where the transfers of east and west-bound 
freight cars will be made and new trains 
lie made iip, as also at East Alton. All in 
all, the new bridges, when completed, will 
be the most important accessions to the business 
of St. Louis since the building of the Eads and 
the Merchants' bridges. They will involve a 
saving of fifty miles and a week of transfer, 
opening up a new suburban territory and offer- 
ing many other advantages too numerous to 
mention here, but which will develop as time 



66 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



moves on and the Ijridges and their connections 
are bnilt and pnt into operation. 

The work of bnilding these bridges, as a total, 
far surpasses the entire labor of bnilding the 
Eads bridge, and, with their connections and 
terminals, it forms one of the most majestic 
conceptions of modern times. Two bridges not 
more than fonr miles apart, the distance from 
Alton to St. Louis reduced to sixteen miles, 
many miles of railroad through what was con- 
sidered an impassable country, subject as it is to 
annual overflows, all concentrating at one point 
for the general good and direct benefit of them- 
selves and St. Louis, is a result which five years 
ago was laughed at, and even sneered at, by 
many of the most well-informed people. 

It will thus be 
THE LARGEST PASSENGER .1 . .^i 1 

seen that the rail- 

DEPOT A c •^•^■ ( 

road facilities of 

,N THE WORLD. g^ ^ouis are at 

the present time magnificent, and that in the 
immediate future they will Ijecome even more 
distinctly superior to those of any other city. It 
is therefore strictly in order that New St. Louis 
should have a Union depot better and more 
gigantic than can be found elsewhere, and this 
it is to have. Simultaneously with the publish- 
ing of this work there will be opened the finest 
dejjot in the world, and its builders have decided 
to adopt the European and eastern appellation 
and call it the ' ' St. Louis Union Station. ' ' Noth- 
ing but never-ceasing care, has enabled the enor- 
mous passenger traffic for the last few years to be 
carried on at all, let alone safely and promptly, 
at the old Union depot on Twelfth street, and 
ten years ago a new depot was determined upon. 
In 1886 the movement took definite shape in the 
formation of the Union Depot Company by the 
Missouri Pacific, the Cleveland, Cincinnati & 
St. Louis, the Iron ]\Iountain & Southern, the 
Louisville & Nashville, the Ohio & ^Mississippi 
and the Wabash. It was not designed that the 
promoting companies should use the new struct- 
ure and tracks exclusively, but upon them fell 
the responsibility of the great task. Jay Gould 
took a personal interest in the proposition, and 
many discussions as to the form to be adopted 



took place. The platforms of the old depot run 
east and west, and the through system is used; 
the platforms of the new station run north and 
south, and it is designed on the terminal and 
" pocket " plan. The step was not taken with- 
out mature deliberation, and that the wiser 
counsels prevailed is generally admitted. Mr. 
William Taussig, the president of the company, 
and Mr. Theo. C. Link, the architect, will ever 
be spoken of with pride by St. Louisans for 
designing and giving to St. Louis //ic largest 
Union Railroad Station in the world. 

There is no exaggeration in this expression. 
The St. Pancras Station in London is generally 
spoken of as an exceptionally large depot, but 
is less than half the size of the new station at 
St. Louis, which also covers more ground than 
the two magnificent depots of the Pennsylvania 
road at Jersey City and Philadelphia put to- 
gether. Ranked in order of area the seven 
great representative depots of the world are: 











ii 








"0 D* 


t.'o 








r-y; 


<A 


New Union station, St. Louis 


606 bv 


700 feet 


424,200 


10* 


Union Depot, Frankfurt, 












552 by 


600 feet 


331,200 


8 


Reading Railroad Station, 




Philadelphia 


360 by 


800 feet 


288,000 


7 


Pennsylvania Railroad Sta- 










tion, Philadelphia 


306 bv 


647 feet 


197,982 


44 


St. Pancras Station, London 


240 bv 


700 feet 


168,000 


4 


Pennsylvania Railroad Sta- 










tion, Jersey City 


256 by 


653 feet 


167,168 


4 


Grand Central Station, New 








, 


York City 


200 by 


750 feet 


150,0(50 


■Si 



The depot and sheds together cover six city 
blocks, bounded on the north by Market 
street, on_ the south by the Mill Creek Valley 
tracks, on the east by Eighteenth street, and on 
the west by Twentieth street. The total area 
covered is equal to ten acres, and 200, UUU men 
could stand under its roof at one time. No less 
than 12,000,000 pounds of steel, 2,.")00,000 feet 
of lumber, .'),000,000 bricks, 3,000,000 nails, 
100,000 cubic feet of stone, 200,000 roofing tile 
and 50,000 square yards of plastering have been 

*Including sheds, buildings, &c., the area covered is 
really about twelve acres. 



RAILROAD AND RIVER FACILITIES. 



67 



used ill the work, and the total cost of the 
structure, inchiding the purchase of the site, 
exceeds $4,000,000. A detailed descriptiou of 
a building of this magnitude is well-nigh im- 
possible, but some of the most striking features 
must be recorded. At Eighteenth street there 
is an entrance-way and stair-case fifty feet wide, 
but the main entrances are on Market street, 
where carriages can drive in through a semi- 
circular drive-way to the approach to the grand 
stair-case. The basement of the depot is on a 
level with the tracks under the train-shed, and 
the first floor is a little above the Market street 
level. 

Passengers to the city cannot fail to be im- 
pressed with the grand waiting-rooms through 
which they will pass. The general waiting-room 
has a floor area of 10,000 square feet, and is of 
exceptional altitude. The decorations, both of 
the walls and the ceiling, are appropriate and 
costly, and in the center there is to be a Bureau of 
Information, at which questions of all character 
will be answered. The grand waiting-room, on 
the first floor above, has an area of 12,000 square 
feet, and is sixty feet high. The decorations of 
this room are magnificent, and no less than ;>,(•()() 
incandescent lights will be used for its illumina- 
tion. The ladies' parlors, which are now prac- 
tically completed, are also models of excellence; 
and the general offices, railroad, telegraphic and 
otherwise, are of the most perfect character. 
When the Municipal Assembly granted the 
necessary authority for closing the streets run- 
ning through the ten-acre tract now covered by 
the depot, it was stipidated that the main build- 
ing should cost not less than $800,000. The 
actual cost of this portion of the work has not 
been made public, but it is so far in excess of 
the minimum named in the franchise, that those 
who took the precaution to put in the figures 
feel now that their ideas of the work proposed 
were extremely conservative. 

The train-shed is 
more remarkable than 
the building itself. It 
is 606 feet wide, nearly 700 feet long, and 100 
feet high. The roof of the shed forms an arch 



PLAN OF THE 
UNION STATION SHED. 



of 600 feet radius, the height varying from 
30 feet at the sides to the 100 feet already 
mentioned in the center. The roof is supported 
by forty-four outer columns, forty-four interme- 
diate columns and twenty-four middle columns 
of great strength. The roof is almost entirely 
of glass, of which there are used altogether 
120,000 square feet in the work, all of St. L,ouis 
manufacture. An extension to the train-shed 
calls for 42,000 square feet of space, and will 
give the depot facilities for handling an unlim- 
ited amount of traffic expeditiously and safely. 
The number of tracks provided for in this shed 
is thirty-two, twice as many as are to be found 
in the Pennsylvania depot at Philadelphia, and 
nearly twice as many as in the large depot at 
Frankfurt, Germany. Between the tracks will 
be hardwood platforms, twelve feet in the clear. 
As already mentioned, the tracks run into the 
depot from south to north, and the platforms 
parallel the tracks, bounded at the southern 
end by fences and gates. Along the Eighteenth 
street side there is also a fifty-foot platform for 
the exclusive use of promenaders, who will not 
be allowed to go on the platforms. 

Seventy feet from the rear depot wall a bag- 
ofage-room extends 300 feet southward. This 
will be the most complete quick-ser\'ice room in 
the country, and will be so great an improve- 
ment over the accommodations hitherto enjoyed 
by the travelers through St. Louis that com- 
parison is out of question. One more feature 
of the depot must be mentioned, because of the 
ingenuity of which it gives evidence, and also 
of the immense advantages that w'ill accrue. 
This has relation to the system of tracks and 
their entrance to the sheds, which have been so 
arranged that no engine will come under the 
massive roof. In the good days to come, loco- 
motives will be equipped with smoke-consuming 
devices, but even then they will be objection- 
able under cover. Now, they give forth vol- 
umes of smoke and make a variety of unpleas- 
ant noises, and their room, is far preferat)le to 
their company; and it is a splendid feature of 
the new depot that the air in the sheds will 
always be perfectly clear and pure. The thirty- 



68 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



two tracks will vary in length from 400 to 
1,200 feet, and they will converge into a bottle- 
shaped junction or throat at the soutli end. 
A train coming in from either direction will run 
past the shed; the engine will be reversed and 
the train backed in over the curved "Y" to 
its respective track. No switching will be 
required, as the trains will be made np and 
ready to resume their respective journeys in 
either direction when required. The switches 
will all be controlled by the lever-locking sys- 
tem, from a switch-tower of consideral:)le height. 
There will be no possibility of collisions, and 
the service will be improved and expedited in 
the most pronounced manner. 

If the arrangement already described, whereby 
all passenger trains will enter the city via the 
Mill Creek Valley from the west, is carried out, 
the system will be still greater in its simplicity. 
At the first opening of the depot, however, the 
Wabash, Missouri Pacific, Iron Mountain, Keo- 
kuk, Colorado, and San Francisco trains, with 
others using their tracks, will come in from the 
west under the Twenty-first street bridge, pass- 
ing the shed entrance and then backing in as 
described. The Wabash Eastern, Chicago & 
Alton, "Burlington," " Cairo Short Line," "Big 
Four," Illinois Central, lyouisville & Nashville, 
Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis and Balti- 
more & Ohio trains will at first run np the Mill 
Creek Valley from the eastern apjiroach, pass 
under the Eighteenth street bridge, and back 
into the shed and depot from the west. 

The official announcement has been made that 
the depot will be open for traffic next March 
( 1894 ), and there seems every reason to believe 
that the promise will be carried out and that the 
magnificent depot will be in use before the sum- 
mer travel commences. 

The extraordinary rail- 
road facilities of St. Louis 

have, to a great extent, 

RIVER CONNECTIONS. ■, -, ■, •. 

overshadowed its river 

facilities, and have caused sight to be lost of the 
fact that St. Louis is the chief port in l'S,()00 
miles of inland waterways. In years gone by 
the river was the making of St. Louis, and al- 



THB IMPORTANCE 
OF OUR 



though the city's greatness is due more to the rail- 
roads than to the river, no treatise on the great- 
ness of St. Louis will ever be complete without 
a reference to the river and the enonnons traffic 
that it has witnessed. " There is no warrant," 
to quote from the memorial presented by the 
Merchants' Exchange in 1892 to the Fifty- 
second Congress, in favor of the deepening of 
the river channel between St. Louis and the 
Gulf, " for the assertion that in this age of rail- 
roads rivers have lost their fascination and 
influence over the people, and that it is as easy 
to build up a great and populous city at a dis- 
tance from navigable water as upon its shore. 
The history of settlements in this countrv, as 
well in the last forty years of railroad making, 
as in the one hundred and fifty that preceded it, 
attests the continued ascendency of navigable 
streams and lakes over the popular mind, and 
their great value in commercial, industrial and 
distributive economies. The same forces that 
located New York at the mouth of the Hudson, 
Philadelphia on the Delaware, Baltimore on the 
Patapsco, New Orleans and St. Louis on the 
Mississippi , Pittsburgh , Cincinnati and Louisville 
on the Ohio, and Chicago and Milwaukee on 
Lake Michigan, before railroads were thought 
of, have assisted to build np Minneapolis, St. 
Paul, LaCrosse, Winona, Dubuque, Davenport, 
Rock Island, Muscatine, Keokuk, Hannibal, 
Ouiiicy, Cairo, Memphis and Vicksburg on the 
Mississippi, Evansville, Owensboro and Pa- 
ducah on the Ohio, and Kansas City, Leaven-" 
worth, St. Joseph, Omaha, Council Bluffs, Sioux 
City, Pierre and Bismarck on the Missouri; and 
it may be observed that in the settlement of the 
newer portions of the Mississippi Valley in the 
last half century, it has ever been the rule to 
found the leading cities and towns on rivers and 
lakes, if there were ri\-ers or lakes within reach, 
unless special agencies dictated a different loca- 
tion. And it is a fact not without significance 
that the cities, founded on the waterside, which 
were leading cities as far back as 1830, have 
maintained their pre-eminence in the face of 
railway influences, and are leading cities in 
1892. Pittsburgh, at the head of the Ohio, con- 



RAILROAD AND RIVER FACILITIES. 



69 



tinues to be the largest city in Western Peuns)-1- 
vania; Cincinnati, on tlie Ohio, and Cleveland, 
on Lake Erie, are the largest cities in Ohio; 
Chicago is the chief city of Illinois, St. Lonis 
and Kansas City of Missonri, Lonisville of Ken- 
tucky, St. Paul and Minneapolis of Minnesota, 
Omaha of Nebraska, Memphis and Nashville of 
Tennessee, Little Rock of Arkansas, Vicksburg 
of Mississippi and New Orleans, Shreveport and 
Baton Rouge of Louisiana — and there are good 
reasons for believing that these cities, all located 
on the waterside, will continue to maintain their 
ascendency in their respective States for genera- 
tions to come." 

The actual population of the Mississippi river 
States alone is 18,r)0U,U()0, while the population 
of the Mississippi Valley States isover 28, 00(1, 000. 
The region drained by the Mississippi and its 
tributaries embraces one-half the States in the 
Union and nearly one-half the population, and 
the immense value of the city's river location 
can easily be understood when this fact is taken 
into consideration. According to the census 
of 1890 upwards of ;-^l, 000, 000 tons of freight 
were carried during the year 1889 on the 
Mississippi and its tributaries, the principal 
commodities and the tonnage of each being as 
follows: 



C0.M3I0DIT1ES. 



Tons. 



Coal - 

Forest Products 

Merchandise 

Wheat 

Cottou 

Iron Ore 

Cotton Seed and Oil 

Corn 

Sugar and Molasses 

Animal Products 

Stone and Ciravel 

Clay and Sand 

Manufactured Iron 

Mill Products 

Hay 

Other Grain 

Fruits and Vegetables 

Tobacco 

Pig Iron 

Oils r 

Ice 

Cement, Brick and Lime.. 

Total 



632, 
531, 

SS6, 

068, 

GSO, 

530, 

392, 

266, 

189, 

169, 

158, 

141, 

12-2, 

88, 

7s, 

51, 

23 

17 

5, 

3, 

4, 

1 



109 
189 
259 
504 
635 
647 
988 
071 
829 
470 
453 
464 
000 
129 
635 
3U8 
091 
707 
500 
128 
l)(t0 
231 



PROSPECTS OF 

INCREASED 
RIVER TRAFFIC. 



31,054,423 



The river equipment of the streams with 
which St. Louis has direct traffic and large pro- 
prietary interest embrace upwards of l,oO() 
boats, with an aggregate tonnage of 480,000, 
the actual of weight of freight moved on them 
amounting to about one-half the total given 
above. 

It could scarcely be ex- 
pected that the river traffic 
to and from St. Louis would 
show a large increase when 
the immense railroad freight returns are taken 
into consideration, but considerably upwards of 
1,000,000 tons of freight are received at the 
city and shipped from it every year. The re- 
turns would be infinitely larger but for suspen- 
sions of traffic caused by low water, and for 
several j-ears the efforts of the Merchants' Ex- 
change have been directed towards the securing 
from the Federal Oovernment a measure of jus- 
tice in the matter of river improvement. The 
movement, warmly supported by Mr. E. A. Noo- 
nan, during his administration as mayor, came 
to a definite head in the years 1891 and 1892, 
when the executive committee of the commercial 
and manufacturing associations of St. Louis for 
the improvement of the Mississippi river secured 
the introduction of abillappropriating$8, 000, 000 
annually for the improvement of the river. This 
bill passed the Senate, but owing to the strong 
opposition in the House, it was deemed inad- 
visable to run the risk of pushing it, and in its 
place there was obtained an appropriation of 
$4,000,000 per annum for four years, for con- 
tinuous work on the Mississippi river from 
St. Paul to New Orleans. This work is 
now in progress, and a concerted effort will 
be made to ha\'e the appropriations continued 
indefinitely until St. Louis becomes a seaport, 
and until the river is navigable at all periods of 
the year, except when closed by ice. 

The high water of the year 1892 reduced the 
river tonnage considerably. During the months 
of April, May, June and July the a\-erage stage of 
the river at St. Louis was about twenty feet, as 
compared with zero of gauge in the year LSI);], 
and again in December, 1893. This latter indi- 



70 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



cated about twelve feet of water in the channel in here and Cairo. The arrivals and departures at 
the harbor of St. lyouis, with four and some- and from the port of St. Louis during the last 
times only three feet of water in places Ijctween twenty years are as follows: 



1892. 

1891. 

1890. 

1889. 

18S8-. 

18S7.. 

1886.. 

1885. 

1884.. 

1883. 

1882.. 

1881. 

18S0. 

1879. 

1878.. 

1877. 

1876.. 

1875 

1874 . 

1873. 



ARRIVALS. 



lioats. 


Barges. 


2053 


1 
1090 ' 


1881 


1019 


1927 


1274 1 


2195 


1474 


2079 


1244 i 


2361 


1272 


2087 


1269 


1878 


1030 


2048 


999 


2240 


1185 


2537 


1110 


2426 


1525 


2871 


1821 


23G0 


1471 


2322 


1291 


2l.i0 


660 


2122 


6S3 


2201 


743 


2332 


951 


2316 


1020 



Tons of 

Freight 

Received. 



656,980 
450,050 
530,790 
543,990 
597,955 
652,880 
570,205 
479,065 
520,350 
629,225 
802,080 
852,410 
893,860 
688,970 
714,700 
644,485 
688,755 
663,525 
732,765 
810,055 



Tons of 

Lumber and 

Logs by Raft 

Received, 



130,220 
142,0i)0 
132,940 
127,695 
130,855 
213,165 
200,785 
217,860 
240,330 
231,285 
271,490 
356,020 
198,315 



DEPARTURES. 



1892 
1891 
1890 
1889 
1888 
1887 
1886 
1885 
1884 
1883 
1882 
1881 
1880 
1879 
1878 
1877 
1876 
1875. 
1874 
1873 



Boats. 



2013 

1845 
1910 
2211 
2076 
2328 
2102 
182S 
2018 
2140 
2487 
2340 
2866 
2392 
2348 
2156 
2118 
2223 
2364 
2303 



Tons of 
Freight 
Shipped. 



502,215 
512,930 
617,985 
712,700 
510,115 
637,060 
561,895 
534,175 
514,910 
677,340 
769,905 
884,025 
1,038,350 
676,445 
614,675 
597,676 
600,225 
639,095 
707,. 325 
783,256 



CHAPTER VI. 

RAPID TRANSIT AND ITS INFLUENCES. 

THE EARLY STRUGGLES OF OMNIBUS AND STREET CAR COMPANIES.— THE INTRODUCTION 
OF CABLE AND ELECTRIC POWER.— EFFECT ON IMPROVEMENTS AND VALUES. 



Ml 



^^HE STREKT C.\R service of St. Louis 
\ / is now equal to that to be found in any 
(g) (g) city in the world, and in many respects 
it is far superior. It has more special 
features than the street car senace of 
any other city, and it runs some of the 
most handsome cars in the world. During the 
year 1893 the use of horses and mules for street 
car traction was put a stop to in the down-town 
sections of the city, and the three roads which 
were the last to fall in line with the procession 
commenced the regular running of electric cars 
during the summer. Now every main line is 
operated by electricity or cable, and there are 



nearly .300 miles in operation, while the total 
number of passengers carried each year is about 
100,000,000. To realize what this means it 
should be borne in mind that to maintain an 
average of 100,000,000 passengers per annum it 
is necessarj' for the cars to haul a number efjual 
to one-half the city's entire population every 
day, Sundays included. Before describing the 
splendid equipments of to-day, a brief reference 
must be made to the early days of omnibuses 
and street cars in St. Louis. The first omnibus 
was run without any concerted system or plan 
about fifty-five years ago. A local paper in 
18o8 speaks of the handsome style of an omnibus 



RAPID TRANSIT AND ITS INFLUENCES. 



71 



run by Mr. Belcher, but it was not until 1844 
that an omnibus service of any extent was es- 
tablished. Mr. Erastus Wells and Mr. Calvin 
Case in that year established an omnibus line, 
which is referred to in a local paper on June 11, 
1845, in the following terms: 

"It is but a few months since our opinion was 
asked as to the probable profits of an omnibus 
to be run in certain parts of the city. At 
that time no omnibuses were run in the city. 
The experiment was attempted. The first was 
started by Messrs. Case & Wells, to run from the 
National Hotel on Market street, to the ferry at 
the upper end of the city. We believe it has 
been successful as could have been expected from 
a new undertaking. At first people were a little 
shy of it; some did not think it exactly a gen- 
teel way of traveling the streets. These scruples 
have entirely disappeared, and everybody now 
rides in them, and is glad of the oj^portunity. 
Messrs. Case & Wells manifest a determination 
to keep up with the encouragement given them, 
and have lately put on their line a new and 
beautiful omnibus, manufactured in Troy, New 
York. It is a fine specimen of workmanship, and 
is a very comfortable carriage. In addition to the 
line above mentioned, we now have regular lines 
running from the National Hotel to the Arsenal, 
along Second street; a line from the Planters' 
House to the Arsenal, along Fourth street; a 
line from the corner of Fourth and Market 
streets to the Camp Springs, and a line to the 
Prairie House. All seem to be doing a flourish- 
ing and profitable business, and they prove to be 
a great convenience to persons residing in dis- 
tant parts, and to those having business to at- 
tend to in remote parts of the city. Tliey have 
contributed not a little to give an increase of 
value to real estate lying at a distance from the 
center or business portion of the city." 

In 1850 Erastus Wells, with Calvin Case, 
Robert O'Blennus and Lawrence Mathews 
formed a combination which purchased and op- 
erated all the omnibus lines in St. Louis. In 
the following year there were six lines in exist- 
ence, as follows: First, from the Arsenal to Ca- 
rondelet; second, from the corner of Market and 



THE FIRST STREET 
RAILROAD TRIP. 



Second streets to the Arsenal; third, from the 
corner of Main and Market to Camp Springs; 
fourth, from the corner of Broadway and Frank- 
lin avenue to Rising Sun Tavern; fifth, from the 
corner of Market and Third to Bremen; sixth, 
from Bremen to BisselPs Ferry. The omnibuses 
from these points started every four to ten min- 
utes, and the lines comprised in all ninety om- 
nibuses, 450 head of horses, four stables and 
about 100 hands. 

In January, 1859, a 
meeting was held to dis- 
cuss the question of the 
building of street railroads, and the sense of the 
meeting was so strongly in favor of the innova- 
tion that local enterprise was at once directed to- 
wards the incorporation of companies for build- 
ing and equipping street railroads. In the fol- 
lowing May the Missouri Railroad Company 
was organized, and Mr. Erastus Wells became 
its president, a position he occupied for more 
than twenty years. By July the road was con- 
structed as far as Twelfth street, and on the 
4tli of July the first car was run over the 
track. In these days of street railroads running 
trains five, and even fifteen, miles, the excite- 
ment which the first trip created on the six- 
block route seems remarkable and almost hu- 
morous. The literature of the day tells us that 
the first car was a beautiful vehicle, light, ele- 
gant and commodious, having cost $900, in- 
cluding freight from Philadelphia, where it was 
constructed. "Mr. Wells, president of the 
road, then took the reins," we are told, "and, 
after a jerk or two, the first car moved slowly 
but steadily up the track amidst loud shouts 
and cheers from the crowd. Troops of urchins 
followed in its wake, endeavoring to hang on, 
and we fear unless this is prevented in the 
future, serious accidents may occur." The 
journey appears to have been accompanied by 
great difficulties, the car leaving the track 
several times, but Tenth street was finally 
reached, "the track having been cleared of 
Stone only that distance." It took many years 
to bring the Missouri Railroad system up to its 
present standard, but Grand avenue was reached 



72 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



during the seventies by both Olive and Market 
streets. 

The St. Louis Railroad, or the Broadway line, 
was also started in 18.')!), as was the Citizens' 
Railway, which originally ran as far west as 
Garrison avenue. In 1864 the road was extended 
to the Fair Grounds, and in 1881 along the 
St. Charles rock road to Rinkelville. The ex- 
tension of this road between King's Highway 
and Rinkelville is still operated by horses on a 
single track with turn-outs. It is shortly to be 
reconstructed and equipped as an electric road, 
but in the meantime it gives an interesting in- 
sight into the original system of street railroads 
in St. Louis as compared with the magnificent 
equipment of to-day. The People's road was also 
constructed along Fourth street in 18.")9, and 
five years later it was extended to Lafayette 
Park. In 1882 it was further extended to Grand 
avenue. The first step towards the forma- 
tion of the Union Depot system of street rail- 
roads was made in 18()2, when the track was 
laid from Fourth and Pine streets to Gravois 
road. So many extensions have taken place 
since, that the road has become a general South 
St. Louis means of transportation, and it has just 
completed a line to Caroudelet on the high 
ground. The year 1864 was an important one 
in street railroad history. It saw the building 
of the Benton-Bellefontaine Railroad as far as the 
water tower, and also the commencement of 
work on the Lindell system, now one of the 
largest in the United States. Cars were run on 
V)oth the Washington avenue and Fourteenth 
street branches early in 18117, the first named 
road having for some years its terminus at Ware 
avenue. 

The Union Railway was organized the follow- 
ing year and track was laid as far as Hyde Park. 
Ten years later the road was extended to the 
Fair Grounds. In 1874 the Cass Avenue and 
Fair Grounds Railway was organized, and in 
June 1875 it was first operated. On October 
25, 1874, some excitement was caused by the 
running of the first two-story car in the city. 
This was on the Northwestern St. Louis Rail- 
way, which became absorbed by the Mound City 



Railway Company, whose cars were first oper- 
ated in 18(j(>. The South St- Louis Railway 
Company was incorporated in 1876 at about the 
time of the adoption of the scheme and charter. 
By the purchase of the Carondelet Street Rail- 
way Company, it connected Carondelet with St. 
Louis, running due south. 

Another company, not strictly a street railroad 
company, but of equal importance to the city, is 
the St. Louis Transfer Company, originally 
known as the Ohio & Mississippi Transfer Com- 
pany. This was chartered in 1859, and has 
provided admirable transfer and omnibus facili- 
ties for passengers, baggage and freight ever 
since, keeping pace with the growth of public 
sentiment and the improvement of transfer facili- 
ties generally. 

This in brief traces the 
THE SERVICE . . , , 

origin of the magumceut 

OF OLD ST. LOUIS - ^ ., , . ■,-^- r 

street railroad facilities of 

AT ITS BEST. g^_ j^^^^j^ to-day. In 18S2, 

when, as we have already seen. Old St. Louis 
began to merge into New St. Louis, there were 
in operation fourteen street railroads, which 
carried about 30,000,000 passengers during the 
year, or less than one-third the total carried now. 
The following table, based on the 1882 returns, 
will give some slight idea of the small begin- 
ning upon which the street railroad system of 
New St. Louis was based: 



Baden 

Beiitou & Bellefontaine.... 

Cass Avenue 

Citizens' 

The Lindell 

Missouri 

Mound City 

People's 

St. I^ouis , - . 

South St. Louis 

Tower Grove & Lafayette.. 

Union 

Union Depot - 



. a 

O =3 

r. 



14 

12 

3 

8 1 

10 ! 



17 
132 1 

193 i 

290 I 
401 

295 ; 

83 I 
250 ] 
442 

75 

93 
210 
366 



42 
30 
56 
70 
56 
2-2 
30 
66 
23 
20 
24 
68 



; 6,820 

48,720 

83,810 

94,520 

159,430 

122.960 

22,880 

59,110 

125,860 

32.510 

25,0.")0 

03,660 

75,870 



The influence of New St. Louis at once began 
to be felt in the street cars. As seen above. 
Grand avenue was generally the terminus of 



RAPID TRANSIT AND ITS INFLUENCES. 



73 



railroads running west, and the extension of the 
lyindell Railway as far as Vandeventer a\-enue 
by means of a loop running west on Delmar 
avenue, north on Vandeventer, east on Finney 
and south on Grand, was regarded as quite a 
work of enterprise. Bobtail cars — the popular 
name for the unpopular diminutive cars, whose 
drivers are compelled to act in dual capacity 
as drivers and conductors — were run, and, al- 
though the road proved a great convenience, it 
was not pushed to its full limit. The Market 
street road was also extended as far as Forest 
Park, and on Sundays through cars were run, 
though during the week the much-despised bob- 
tail cars did duty on the extension. 

St. Louisans, visiting other cities and observ- 
ing the successful operation in them of street 
railroads operated by rapid transit in the shape 
of cables, became impressed with the fact that 
horse and nude traction was too slow for a great 
city like St. Louis, and the question of rapid 
transit began to be discussed here very freely. 
As we have seen in a j^receding chapter, the 
railroad magnates strongly objected to the pro- 
posed innovation, and a vigorous outcry was 
also raised by the conservative and timid ele- 
ment. It seems strange that emancipation from 
the old rut should have been inaugurated by 
Indianapolis capitalists, but such was the case, 
and in 1884 the first franchise was granted for 
a cable road. The promoters had acquired the 
title and interest in the narrow-gauge road 
which ran from the intersection of Grand avenue 
and Olive street to the interesting city of Floris- 
sant, seventeen miles out in the country. That 
this road was intended for much greater things 
than it had achieved, was evidenced by its 
title, which was the St. Louis, Creve Coeur & 
St. Charles Railway Company, to which cor- 
poration the privileges were granted by the 
Municipal Assembly after a bitter fight. 

Ordinance No. 12,852, ap- 
proved by Mayor Ewing in 
188-4, should ever be regarded 
by St. Louis property holders 
and citizens with something akin to veneration, 
because it sanctioned the first step towards the 



THE FIRST 

CABLE ROAD 

FRANCHISE. 



emancipation of the city from the rule of horses 
and mules on its street car tracks, and because 
the work done under it gave a marked impetus 
to the new growth of the city. The franchise 
granted the company permission to lay a cable 
track between the junction of Sixth and Locust 
streets and the intersection of the narrow-gauge 
road with Morgan street, at a point a little west 
of Vandeventer avenue. The precautions taken 
against damage to the city and private property 
in the construction of the road were somewhat 
remarkable, and showed that the warnings of 
those who had prophesied dire disaster as the 
result of the innovation had not been thrown 
away on the city legislators. The limits of 
speed specified in the ordinance were also 
indicative of the spirit of the times. East of 
Twelfth street no car was to run faster than six 
miles an hour; between Twelfth street and Gar- 
rison avenue a speed of seven miles was per- 
mitted, and west of Garrison avenue eight miles 
was allowed. These speed regulations would 
have required the use of three different cables, 
with drums at Twelfth street and also Garrison 
avenue; but before the road was opened wise 
counsels prevailed, and a more reasonable uni- 
form speed-limit was made. 

Those who resided in the city at the time will 
remember with great interest the construction 
of this road. It was built in the most substantial 
manner then possible, but by a slow, tedious 
and expensive process, without the use of the 
devices of more recent years which had made 
cable-track laying far more speedy and prac- 
ticable. As an event typical of the times, the 
laying of the first cable in the conduit is worth 
mentioning. The local papers devoted to the 
work a large amount of space, and considering 
the immense crowds which witnessed the work, 
the event was certainly one of more than ordi- 
nary interest. The cable was placed in position 
late in the winter of 1885-86, and the first cable 
train was run at the commencement of spring 
following. The excitement which the experi- 
ment created will ever be remembered. On the 
first Sunday of the road's operation it beat the 
record in the matter of jDassenger hauling, 



74 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



although its equipment was by no means com- 
plete. The popularity of the road was so great 
that even after the novelty wore off, people will- 
ingly walked four or five blocks out of their 
way to ride in the cars, and a career of extra- 
ordinary prosperity appeared to be certain. The 
"impossible" route added to the difficulties of 
running" the road, but although a great many 
passengers were thrown into each other's laps, 
and some few were thrown on to the sidewalk at 
the sharjDest curves, these little drawbacks did 
not materially injure the road's traffic receipts. 
The most objectionable and dangerous point was 
at Grand avenue and Morgan street, where a 
double curve seemed to defy the efforts of the 
engineers to devise means to keep the cars on 
the track. This trouble was finally obviated by 
the purchase of the property at the southeast 
corner, and the moving several feet south of the 
house situated upon it, so as to enable the track 
to be relaid without a perceptible curve at all. 
The road's progress was also interfered with 
by a calamitous fire, which destroyed its entire 
equipment before it had been in operation more 
than a year. Horse cars were run for a short 
time, and finally a fresh supply of cars was ob- 
tained and traffic was resumed. The road was 
finally sold, at a handsome profit to the original 
promoters, and it passed into the control of Bos- 
ton capitalists. Sufficient money was not spent 
to keep up the track, and the competition of 
adjoining roads which in the meantime had 
been equipped with cable power, reduced the 
earning capacity of the pioneer rapid transit 
road of St. Louis to such an extent that it passed 
into the hands of a receiver. About four years 
ago Messrs. Charles H. Turner, S. M. Kennard, 
Clark H. Sampson and other capitalists were 
convinced of the possibility of reconstructing the 
road with electricity and making it pay hand- 
somely. They secured a controlling interest in 
the corporation, reorganized it as the St. Louis 
& Suburban Railroad, and at once decided upon 
the gigantic enterprise of equipping the road its 
entire length with electricity. The narrow- 
gauge suburban service was exceedingly unsat- 
isfactory and entirely inadequate, and the reor- 



ganizers determined to run a double-track 
electric road as far as the city limits and a sin- 
gle-track electric road from that point to Floris- 
sant, the tracks to be doubled on the county 
section as soon as the traffic justified the outlay. 

The necessary legisla- 
THB FIRST COUNTY . , . ; '^^ , 

tion was obtained, and the 
ELECTRIC ROAD. . , ^ ,. ^ . 

long and tedious task com- 
menced. Electric cars were run as an extension 
to the cable service in 18i)l, and in 1892 the great 
work was completed and a through service of 
electric cars established between Sixth and Lo- 
cust streets and the city limits at Wells Station, 
with an excellent county extension to Normandy 
and Florissant. This road is now the longest 
electric road in the world operated from one 
power-house, and the enormous increase in its 
receipts since the change of motive power has 
more than justified the enterprise and anticipa- 
tions of the reorganizers. 

The history of this road has been traced at 
some length because of its exceptional influence 
on the city's rapid transit facilities and also on 
its general growth. Before leaving the sul^ject, 
it is of interest to add that in addition to being 
the longest electric road o^Derated from one 
power-house, it was the road selected by the 
government for the experiment of street railroad 
postal cars. The experiment has proved a per- 
fect success, and now three trips are made daily, 
with sub-postoffices established along the line 
of route. The delivery of mail is expedited 
very largely by the change, and national interest 
has been attracted by the experiment, which, 
however, can hardly be regarded as an experi- 
ment now. The company already transacts a 
freight and express business west of Vandeventer 
avenue, and at an early date this service will be 
extended down-town. 

But we are somewhat anticipating history. 
The railroad companies which had oj^posed the 
cable franchise found their worst fears fulfilled, 
and the traffic returns of parallel lines in 188G 
showed the necessity of prompt action. During 
the year nearly every road of importance ob- 
tained the right to change its motive power, 
and the year 1887 saw much work done. Among 



RAPID TRANSIT AND ITS INFL UENCES. 



75 



the first roads to lay cable, and the first to re- 
construct, was the Olive street branch of the 
Missouri, which cabled its tracks right out to 
Forest Park, instead of having its western ter- 
minus at Grand avenue, as hitherto. The re- 
construction was a lengthy piece of work, but 
it was duly accomplished, and subsequently both 
the other sections of this system have been 
equipped as electric roads. This Missouri sys- 
tem alone now carries half a million passengers a 
month, and its business is constantly increasing. 
It has just erected a magnificent depot and 
pavilion close to the Blair statue in Forest 
Park for the convenience of the thousands of 
passengers its cars haul daily, and the popular- 
ity of the route will be still greater when this 
building is ready for use. There are few street 
railroad lines in the country which run so nearly 
in a straight line, and which traverse such a 
thickly settled and highly improved territory. 
Starting from Fourth and Olive, close to the 
Merchants' Exchange, and some of the finest 
office-buildings in the city, it runs directly west 
up Olive street, passing the Federal building and 
the Exposition, and continuing on its western 
course, within a block a great portion of the 
way of the finest boulevard and drive-way in St. 
Louis. Although this was one of the first cable 
railroads constructed in St. Louis, it is also the 
most modern in character, and the most suc- 
cessful in operation. No money was spared in 
building the road, which is kept in the highest 
state of repair, with a power-house of unlimited 
capacity, and a determination on the part of the 
management to provide accommodation as nearly 
perfect as possible. The cars, those used both 
for summer and winter, are excellently uphol- 
stered, and are kept scrupulously clean, while 
the trains run at such frequent intervals that 
people who are in a hurry use them even if it 
compels a walk of a few extra blocks. The serv- 
ice is so excellent in every respect that, al- 
though electricity has entirely supplanted the 
cable in the estimation of the people, there is an 
exception in this instance, and the Olive street 
road is as much liked as the best electric road 
in the city. 



RAPID TRANSIT 
TO THE 



The Missotiri Company 

has also an electric road 

running in a straight line to 
PRINCIPAL PARKS. p^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^.^ ^^^^^ 

formerly known as the Forest Park & Laclede 
Railroad, starts from the southern front of the 
court-house, and runs up Market and Chestnut 
streets, reaching the park by the former thor- 
oughfare, some few blocks south of the cable 
terminus. It is also the only street railroad 
corporation in St. Louis running to both Forest 
Park and Tower Grove Park, the two most pop- 
ular recreation and breathing spots in the city. 
Tower Grove Park is reached by the Missouri 
Company's electric road, which starts from Fourth 
and Market and runs by a very direct route to 
Shaw's Garden, being in fact the only railroad 
which carries passengers right to the gates of 
the great botanical garden which has made St. 
Louis popular and famous among students of 
natural beauty everywhere. The western ter- 
minus of this road is at the northern entrance 
to Tower Grove Park, and its passengers thus 
have the advantage of reaching both the garden 
and the parks without change of cars or delay 
of any kind. 

Simultaneously with the cabling of the Olive 
street road, the Citizens' Railroad was changed 
to cable. Nor was this all. Easton avenue be- 
tween Prairie avenue and King's Highway was 
neither improved nor graded, and the company 
proposed as a matter of course to lay its con- 
duits only as far as city improvements made 
it possible. The property owners, however, 
clubbed together and had the street graded to 
King's Highway. The company was a party to 
the transaction, made King's Highway its west- 
ern cable terminus, and thereby doubled and 
trebled the value of property along the avenue. 
The compan}'s branch to the Fair Grounds was 
also cabled, but in 18113 the conduit was removed 
and electric power substituted; another tribute 
to the conquering tendency of the latest of 
modern inventions. Under the same manage- 
ment as the Citizens' are the Cass Avenue, 
Northern Central and Union lines, to all of 
which reference has already been made, and all 



76 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



of which were equipped with electricity during 
1892. The combined system serves the north- 
west portion of the city very thoroughly, and 
hauls immense numbers of passengers to the 
Fair Grounds and races. 

One of the most indispensable, and, as we have 
seen, one of the very oldest roads in the city is 
the Broadway. Unlike the other roads referred 
to, which run more or less east and west, this 
road runs from north to south, connecting the 
manufacturing section of North St. Louis with 
the manufacturing and brewing section of South 
St. Louis, and passing through not only the 
business section of the city, but also through 
some of its most thickly settled residence wards. 
Although before this road was reconstructed for 
rapid transit, electric roads had established their 
popularity, the immense number of trains to be 
run over the track made the management prefer 
a cable, which was laid during the years 1889 
and 1890. The cabling of the road was a ver>' 
costly undertaking, but the work was done in 
the most efficient manner possible, and the road 
is a model in every respect. Visitors to St. Louis 
who desire to visit the new Merchants' bridge, 
the old and the new water-works, the cemeteries, 
all in the northern section of the city, find the 
Broadway cable convenient for the purpose; 
while it is also a popular route to the great 
breweries of the south end. 

The Lindell, or Washington avenue, Railroad 
was among the first to feel the influence of rapid 
transit competition, as the new cable road paral- 
leled its line within a few blocks almost its 
entire length. Experiments were tried in 1887 
with a storage battery electric car, which, how- 
ever, was not a success. Shortly afterwards I\Ir. 
George D. Capen and other local capitalists 
secured control of the road, and having unlimited 
faith in the future of St. Louis proceeded at once 
to map out what looked like a daring scheme, 
not only of reconstruction, but also of extension. 
Electric power was selected as the motor, and 
the main line track was extended on Finney 
avenue as far west as Ta\-lor. From this point 
two branches were constructed, one running on 
Uelmar boulevard to DeBaliviere avenue and 



INTRODUCTION 

OF THE 

TRANSFER SYSTEM. 



then south into Forest Park, where a magnifi- 
cent pavilion has been constructed providing a 
handsome ornament to the park, and being of 
immense convenience to passengers visiting the 
city's great breathing ground and pleasure 
resort. The other branch was constructed out 
west on Page boulevard, piercing a district 
hitherto a stranger to street railroad facilities of 
any kind. The enterprise of the road did not stop 
at this point. Recognizing that St. Louis was in 
need of north and south railroads, or cross-town 
lines, the management obtained municipal legis- 
lation and proceeded to construct, some three 
years ago, the Vandeventer avenue line, which 
connects the Fair Grounds with the Mill Creek 
Valley tracks. 

The opening of this 
road was a matter of spe- 
cial interest to St. Louis, 
because for the first time 
it introduced into the city on a comprehensive 
scale a system of transfers, whereby a passenger 
can make a continuous journey by more than 
one car without paying an additional fare. Dur- 
ing 1893 the company has also completed and 
opened a street railroad on Ta}'lor avenue from 
its junction with Finney into the northwestern 
wards, with the intention of extending it at an 
early date to the cemeteries on the north and 
the railroad tracks on the south. Also, during 
1893, it has opened a new road passing the new 
Union Station, crossing the Eighteenth street 
bridge and providing facilities for residents in 
the Compton Hill district. It also has a second 
road to F'orest Park via Chouteau avenue, and 
has altogether one of the most comprehensive 
and extensive street railroad S},-stems in the 
United States. Its power-house is one of the 
largest in the world, and it has also ex- 
cited the interest of street railroad men everj-- 
where b}- its patented vestibule street car, which 
affords easy ingress and egress through a vesti- 
bule in the center of what is really a combina- 
tion of two full-sized electric cars. No returns 
are available for the entire Lindell system. 
During the third quarter of 1893 it carried 
nearly 4,000,000 passengers, and its completed 



RAPID TRANSIT AND ITS INFLUENCES. 



77 



system is probably canning at least 1,500,000 
passengers inoiitlily. 

Another road which has obtained running 
powers past the new Union Station is the Union 
Depot Company, which now embraces not only 
the numerous roads running into the southern 
wards, but also the Mound City Railroad and 
the Benton & Bellefontaine Railroad. This gi- 
gantic system of railroads, with upwards of 
sixty miles of electric track, thus runs from the 
extreme south of the city to the cemeteries in 
the extreme northwest, with branches in almost 
every direction, and a system of transfers which 
enables passengers to travel right through and 
across the city for one fare. Its latest extension 
is now nearly completed. It intersects the 
highest ground in Carondelet, and affords un- 
limited facilities for transportation. No road 
has a more interesting history than this great 
system and the parts which help to make up 
the whole. In its early days all the hardships 
of bobtail bars and insufficient service were felt, 
but during the last few years these comj^laints 
have all been rendered unnecessary, and the 
equipment is now excellent. The power-house 
from which these different branches are oper- 
ated is of exceptional size, and its capacity is 
ta.xed to the uttermost. By its absorption of the 
Mound City and Benton «& Bellefontaine roads, 
the company also acquired two other large 
power-houses. The business transacted by the 
roads in this system is nearly, if not quite, 
20,000,000 passengers jDer annmn. 

The People's Rail- 
road, originally con- 
structed to Lafayette 
Park, was cabled 
some three years ago and extended along Grand 
avenue to Tower Grove Park. Now an electric 
road is being constructed along Grand avenue, 
connecting the various roads which run on or 
across that thoroughfare, and providing a third 
parallel cross-town road of great usefulness. At 
the present time there are in the city 240 miles 
of street railway in actual operation, and 43 
more in course of construction. In other words, 
early in 1894 there will be about oitO miles of 



A COMPARISON BETWEEN 

THE ROADS OF 
OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



street railroads in operation, as compared with 
less than 120 miles in 1882. This wonderful 
increase in itself is a striking tribute to the 
growth and importance and wealth of New St. 
Louis, and it would be so if the question of 
mileage alone were considered. But the in- 
crease in value has been far greater than the 
increase in mileage, because, while in 1882 the 
tracks were laid as cheaply as possible, and the 
motive power was horses and mules, the roads 
in 1893 are equipped in the most costly manner 
known, and the moti\-e power is more than two- 
thirds electricity, with about forty-three miles 
of cable road. 

The enterprise of the railroad magnates has 
been more than rewarded, for the traffic has in- 
creased in a most remarkable manner. In 1885, 
the last year of the horse-car reign, the number 
of passengers carried by the St. Louis street rail- 
roads was a trifle in excess of 41,000,000. Esti- 
mating population at this stage at 410,000, each 
inhabitant of the city, on an average, rode in a 
street car a hundred times during the year. In 
1891 the number of passengers carried had in- 
creased about 100 per cent, and in 1892 the num- 
ber of passengers carried amounted to 9 1,500, 000. 
In other words, the average number of rides 
taken by every inhabitant of St. Louis was 
about 200 during the year. The returns for 
1893 are not yet complete, but they will cer- 
tainly approximate 100,000,000 for the year. 
The total for the first si.x months was more than 
4.S, 000,000, and the following table gives the 
traffic for the quarter ending October 1: 



Miles 
Operated 
October 1. 



Xiimber of 
Trijjs 
Made. 



Number of 

Fares 
Collected. 



Union Depot 

Lindell 

Missouri 

St. Louis 

Citizens' 

Cass Avenue 

St. Ivouis & Suljiirbau. 

Southern 

People's 

Jefferson Avenue 

Baden 



55 
41 
24 

20 
]5 
27 
19 
15 
10 
3 
3 



158,367 

323.242 

2!}7,600 

211,440 

185,246 

150,890 

33,803 

88,560 

5S,0U4 

23,116 

5,720 



4,612,404 
3,845,936 
3,712,257 
3,067,721 
2,213,793 
2,121,410 
2,057,175 
1,520,307 
1,260,678 
505,413 
127,940 



This shows a total of more than 25,000,000 
passengers carried during the c]uarter. 



78 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



„ _ It only needs a g-lance at the 

RAPID TRANSIT . ^ , '^ , , 

City map to-day and the maps 

as published ten years ago, to 
THE CITY MAP. ^^^ j^^^^^ remarkable has been 

the influence of rapid transit on the building up 
of the city. Those visiting St. Louis during the 
years 1892 and 1893, after an absence from the 
city of eight or ten years, ha\-e been astounded 
at the changes effected. Specific reference has 
already been made to the effect of the cable con- 
struction on Easton avenue. This thoroughfare 
was little more than a country road ten years 
ago. The single-track street car line was laid 
on one side of the road, and the ser\ice was any- 
thing but satisfactory. There were a few stores 
on the street, but they were general country 
stores, without specialties in any line. To-day 
Easton avenue is one of the most important 
thoroughfares in the city. It forms part of the 
direct road from the Mississippi river at St. 
Eouis to the Missouri river at St. Charles, and, 
thanks to the influence of the cable, that portion 
of the St. Charles rock road which is now 
known as Easton avenue, is a busy thorough- 
fare, with hundreds of stores and private dwell- 
ings. Several attempts have been made to state 
in figures what benefit the cable road has been 
to Easton avenue, but sufficient data are not at 
hand to make any calculation approximately ac- 
curate. It is certain, however, that property 
which could not be sold at -$10 a foot before 
the reconstruction, now has buyers in abund- 
ance at $50, .$fiO and $70, ^vith higher prices 
for corners. Farther out on Easton a\'enue 
where property ten }-ears ago could be bought 
by the acre, $20, $25 and $30 a foot is now 
paid. 

The general equipment of the roads running 
due west with rapid transit facilities, and their 
extension beyond Grand a\-enue, has remodeled 
that section of the city which lies west of Van- 
deventer avenue and north of Forest Park. In 
the old days this exceptionally desirable prop- 
erty was inaccessible except to those who owned 
carriages. Even in 1885 there was no street 
car accommodation in the district named west 
of Vandeventer avenue. The enterprise of the 



St. Eouis & Suburban and Lindell Companies, as 
well as the cabling and extension of the 01i\e 
street line, has made this property as easy of 
access as it was formerly difficult. The result 
has been a complete transformation. The streets 
and boulevards between Vandeventer and Taylor 
avenues are all built up with costly improve- 
ments, including elegant mansions, while west 
of Taylor a\-enue the number of delightful home§ 
is constantl)' increasing. West of King's High- 
way, in old horse-car days, the territory was un- 
explored and unknown. There were several 
large country mansions with extensive grounds, 
but as a residence section for the masses it had 
yet to be born. Encouraged by the railroad 
companies, acre after acre has been covered with 
attracti\-e homes, the Cabanne and Chamberlain 
Park districts vying with any in the country for 
beauty and elegance. 

The conversion of the horse car lines running 
south and southwest has also transformed those 
sections of the city. It was formerly so difficult 
to get to Carondelet that most people living in 
St. Louis knew little or nothing concerning the 
beauties of this section of the cit>-. The high, 
healthy ground is now being built up with res- 
idences of all descriptions, and, thanks to the 
admirable street railroad facilities, the popula- 
tion is being increased at a surprising rate. In 
the northwest and the north, the street railroads 
have opened up several square miles of hitherto 
inaccessible property. The improvements are 
continuing, and, indeed, the good work of the 
rapid transit roads in this direction is yet in its 
infancy. In no respect does New St. Louis 
differ in appearance from Old St. Louis more 
than in its residences and residence sections, and 
the change has been brought about almost en- 
tirely by rapid transit. 

One more influ- 
ence of improved 

street railroad facili- 

CITV LIMITS. ^ • , , 

ties must be re- 
corded. The St. Louis & Suburban electric 
road, as already mentioned, runs as far into the 
couutv as Florissant, and all along the line of 
its route it has built up suburban districts. 



POSSIBILITY 
OF AN EXTENSION OF THE 



SOAfE AIDS TO PROGRESS. 



79 



Nominally, Normandy and Ramona are both in 
the county, but practically the)- are part of St. 
Louis. Powers have also been obtained to con- 
struct electric roads into various other sections 
of the county. A road has already been finished 
to Clayton, the county seat, and two other cor- 
porations have been formed to construct rail- 
roads, to be operated by electricity, through the 
strictly urban section of the county west and 
southwest of the city. As a result of this, it is 
proposed to, as early as possible, extend the city 
limits so as to take in Jefferson Barracks on the 
south, Kirkwood on the southwest, Clayton on 
the west and Ferguson on the northwest. 

The new limits as thus proposed would add 
an area to the city of about ;"> 1,200 acres, or 
eighty square miles. It would bring in all the 
suburban towns fostered by present and projected 
electric roads, including Ferguson, Woodland, 
Normandy, Jennings Heights, Ramona, College 



View, O' Fallon, Clayton, Rosedale, Kirkwood, 
Glendale, Webster, Luxemburg and Jefferson 
Barracks, and within the area named there is a 
population of nearly, if not more than, 50,000. 
The present financial condition of that portion 
of St. Louis county included in the limits named 
greatly simjDlifies the question of annexation. 
If the boundaries named above should be adopted 
the city would have an area of 89,9(52 acres, or 
about 140 square miles. It would add, at a 
low estimate, f25,000,000 immediately to the 
taxable values, yielding a revenue of about 
,t!.')00,000. The proposed line has been drawn 
so as to continue along the high ground, and 
within fi\-e years much of the new territory 
would be the most desirable property in the 
city. The rapid transit to suburban localities is 
the best in the United States, and whether the 
territory is annexed or not it will practically be 
a part of the city within a short time. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SOME AIDS TO PROGRESS. 

THE VEILED PROPHET, AUTUMNAL FESTIVITIES ASSOCIATION, ILLUMINATIONS, EXPOSITION 
AND FAIR.-CONVENTIONS.-COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



y^^HE HISTORY OF CITIES, ancient and 






modern, fails to record a duplicate to 
the enterprise of New St. Louis in the 
matter of entertaining strangers and 
providing lavishly for their amusement. 
It was in 1878 that the Veiled Prophet 
commenced his series of annual visits to St. 
Louis, and from the first these visits have been 
made the basis of hospitality of the most lavish 
character. The mystery of the Veiled Prophet 
has been kept entire from the first, and although 
it is generally known that the enormous expense 
of the pageant and ball is borne by a secret organ- 
ization composed of the princi])al capitalists, 
manufacturers and merchants of St. Louis, their 



exact identity is a matter of .surmise, and the 
correctness of the guesses need not be discussed. 
Certain it is that the men who thought out and 
then raised the money to carry out the idea, 
have contributed nobly towards the city's re-birth 
and second growth, and that they have earned 
the good-will of all. The pass-word of the 
Veiled Prophet is, or should be, " unselfishness." 
The idea is a beautiful one, for it is borrowed 
from ancient or legendary history, and is de- 
signed to perpetuate the poetic story, which 
ought to be true if it isn't, that there used to 
exist a Veiled Prophet who was surrounded only 
by whole-souled men who gave up their lives 
to good works. Before the circle of followers 



80 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



WHAT THE 
VEILED PROPHET 



was enlarged, tlie new-comer was compelled to 
look into a magic mirror which laid bare to 
the prophet's gaze his very thoughts and feel- 
ings. Hence the court was made up of gener- 
ous, open-hearted men, devoted to the service of 
their fellows. 

It is very much the same 
with the Veiled Prophet's 
Association. The members 
HAS DONE. subscribe freely to the ex- 

pense account, but do not take their reward 
by means of printed and advertised subscrip- 
tion lists; indeed, no man can be found who 
will admit having donated a single dollar to 
the annual pageants. Millions of visitors have 
come in to see the sixteen annual parades, 
and thousands have tripped the light fantastic 
toe at the grand balls. It seems a trifle debas- 
ing to try to reduce to a cash basis the benefit 
the city has derived from the visits and the 
festivities. In the first place, they have lifted 
St. Louis out of a rut and broken down that 
Chinese wall which was always thought to en- 
circle what was even then the metropolis of the 
Mississippi Valley. Then, they have made 
hundreds of thousands of people acquainted with 
the city, and have fostered tlie habit of annual 
visits to it. Both these influences have been 
of almost incalculable value; but when the 
prophet's power was used to raise New St. L,ouis 
out of the old city, the true force and \-alue of 
that power came to be appreciated. The part 
pla}-ed by the prophet in this work has already 
been discussed, and need not be enlarged upon 
here. The good work has continued year after 
year until in the fall of 18;»3 there seemed to be 
a feeling that the prophet had outlived his use- 
fulness, and that St. Louis was too important a 
city for the annual pageant. At first it was 
thought that this feeling was, if not general, at 
least extensive, and it was semi-officially an- 
nounced that the Veiled Prophet would appear 
no more. The outcry that followed showed that 
the sentiment was held only by the element, to 
be found in every city, which is much more 
ready to criticize than to invent or work, and it 
is now generally understood that the Veiled 



Prophet will appear next October, as usual. 

A detailed description of -the annual pageant 
would be impossible, nor is it practicable to de- 
scribe the annual balls at which the wealth and 
beauty, not only of St. Louis and the West, but 
also of the East, are represented. It is no ex- 
aggeration to say that thousands of society men 
and women look forward to the event with 
excitement for months before it takes place, nor 
is it too much to say that the annual ball is 
absolutely unique. Be)-ond this and a passing 
reference to the beauty of the invitations and 
programmes, nothing can be said here. 

More space must be devoted to the illumina- 
tions which have made St. Louis famous all over 
two continents. Some little work in street illumi- 
nation was done when the prophet first appeared, 
but it was not until 1882, the year so marked 
by changes from old to new, that St. Louis 
first illuminated its streets in a comprehensive 
manner. The sum of $20,000 was subscribed 
for the purpose, and the illumination committee 
of that year had a task of no small magnitude to 
overcome, for it had to originate as well as to 
perfect. So far as the United States was con- 
cerned, St. Louis was the pioneer in the matter of 
street illuminations, no other city having made 
an effort in the direction, and it became necessary 
to look to Europe for hints and ideas. Careful 
inquiry in Paris showed that in e\-en the gay 
French capital nothing had been attempted on 
anything approaching the scale determined 
upon in St. Louis, and even the much-talked-of 
illuminations of Brussels and Venice were ex- 
perimental and insignificant compared with the 
new western idea. In London, Japanese lan- 
terns and an occasional colored globe, constituted 
the idea of street beautification by night; and 
the St. Louisans who had crossed the Atlantic in 
search of information and designs returned with 
very little of the former and still less of the latter, 
the fact having been demonstrated that the ap- 
parently primitive efforts of the preceding year 
in St. Louis had excelled the best on record in 
the carnival cities of the Old World, besides 
having 1)cen entirely without precedent in those 
of the New. 



SOME AIDS TO PROGRESS. 



81 



STREET 
ILLUMINATIONS. 



It is fortunate for St. Louis, 
and also for the United States, 
that there was nothing found 
worth copying in the carnival cities of Europe, 
for the Carnival City of America proceeded at 
once to originate, and to spring at one bound 
into the lead as an entertaining city, achieving, 
even twelve years ago, a triumph it could 
have scarcelv hoped for had it followed in the 
wake of other cities instead of leading the way 
itself. Twenty thousand dollars having been 
subscribed in 1)^82, one hundred and fort\- skilled 
plumbers were engaged, and gas-pipes and 
arches were placed along and over the sidewalks 
and across the streets. Twenty-one thousand 
globes of different colors were purchased, and 
for the distance of about forty-four blocks in the 
business section everything was got in readiness 
for a magnificent display and for a dazzling show 
of many-shaded lights. 

The most sanguine expectations of the pro- 
moters of the enterprise were more than real- 
ized, for tens of thousands of spectators gazed 
with admiration on the display evening after 
evening, and hundreds of European tourists, 
who were attracted by the novelty and magni- 
tude of the undertaking, pronounced it the most 
gorgeous street spectacle they had ever wit- 
nessed, and so infinitely superior to the best Old 
World productions as to make anything in the 
nature of comparison out of the question. A 
well-known official of the Crystal Palace at Syd- 
enham, near London, England, was among the 
visitors who enjoyed the first grand street illu- 
mination the world had ever seen, and his ver- 
dict was that not even in the Crystal Palace 
grounds, nor in the gardens at South Kensing- 
ton, had any approach towards such magnificence 
been made. Other visitors of equal experience 
endorsed this expression of approval, and no one 
has yet been found to express a contrary opin- 
ion. In 1883 the illuminations were repeated, 
and the area covered being increased several 
blocks; and in the two following years the work 
of improvement went steadily on. Inl88(),the 
year of the Knights Templars Conclave at St. 
Louis, upwards of $22, ()()() was collected and ex- 



THE 

AUTUMNAL FESTIVITIES 

ASSOCIATION. 



pended in illuminations, which were made more 
dazzling than ever by the free use of electric 
lights. In 1887 the gathering of the Grand 
Army, followed by the visit of President and 
Mrs. Cleveland, stimulated St. Louisans to 
still greater efforts; the subscription exceeded 
$2(i,000, and the streets were rendered more daz- 
zling than ever. 

This feature was continued, and the plan of 
illumination gradually improved until the end of 
the eighties, when the impression spread that 
the illumination had served its purpose, and for 
two years this feature was omitted. The re- 
sult was something like what happens to a bus- 
iness man who, having achieved a reputation by 
advertising, suddenly comes to the conclusion 
that he is spending too much money and shuts 
down on advertising expense. Such a man gen- 
erally resumes advertising quickly on a more lib- 
eral scale than ever. So did St. Louis. 

In 1891 a mass-meet- 
ing was held, which is 
probably without a par- 
allel in the world's his- 
tory. It was called by the proclamation of the 
Veiled Prophet. The object of the meeting was 
to raise $1,000,000 to be expended during the 
World's Fair period for the general good of the 
city. Mr. Samuel M. Kennard presided at the 
meeting, and the attendance was large and rep- 
resentative. Indeed, the element which had 
succeeded in establishing New St. Louis was 
present in full force, although there were plenty 
of old men for counsel, as well as young men 
for war. The objects in view were largely 
three-fold. One, which ma)' be described as the 
immediate outward and visible sign of the pro- 
posed work, took the shape of festivities for the 
current and two following years of a character 
never before attempted in St. Louis, the idea be- 
ing to celebrate the Columbian quadro-centenary 
on the streets of St. Louis. The second object of 
the proposed association was to secure the erec- 
tion of a new fire-proof hotel to cost not less 
than $1,000, 000, and the proposed association 
was authorized to offer a bonus for this purpose. 
It was also designed to spend about one-third oi 



82 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



the money raised in advertising St. Louis in a 
dignified manner, and thus enlightening the world 
as to the progress made by the city since it de- 
cided to throw off all allegiance to tradition and 
to map out for itself a new career as the future 
metropolis of the mid-continent. 

The success of the meeting was remarkable. 
Just as, more than forty years ago, a few public- 
spirited St. Louisans met together and made the 
construction of a railroad into the city a possi- 
bility, so did a larger number of large and small 
capitalists in Alay, LSDl, insure the success of 
an enterprise at least as important and daring. 
It was not expected that the million dollars 
would be raised in the room, but a very splendid 
beginning was made. Two subscriptions, each 
for $10,000, Avere announced, followed b\- others 
of $7, .500, $5,000 and smaller sums. A spirit of 
enthusiasm was spread o\'er the meeting, which 
soon extended over the city and guaranteed the 
success of the movement. Before the meeting 
adjourned the St. Louis Autumnal Festivities 
Association was formed, with the following offi- 
cers: President, S. RL Kennard; first vice-presi- 
dent, E. O. Stanard; second vice-jjresident, 
F. A. Wann; third vice-president, John S. 
Moflfitt; fourth vice-president, Rolla Wells; fifth 
vice-president, Clark A. Sampson; secretary, 
Frank Gaiennie; treasurer. Walker Hill; execu- 
tive committee, A. D. Brown, R. P. Tansey, 
D. D. Walker, J. C. Wilkinson, S. C. Bunn, 
Jacob Furth, W. T. Haydock, M. C. Wetmore, 
W. F. Nolker, George E. Leighton, T. B. Boyd, 
Charles M. Hays, Goodman King, C. D. Mc- 
Clure, IM. Bernheimer, T. K. Niedringhaus, 
H. J. Meyer, Jonathan Rice, August Gehner, 
J. J. Kreher, C. H. Turner, L. D. Kingsland, 
H. C. Townsend, R. ]\L Scruggs, Festus J. 
Wade, Jerome Hill, A. T. Kelley, George D. 
Barnard, D. S. Holmes, W. H. Woodward, 
Patrick McGrath, J. Specht, W. H. Thompson 
and George M. W^right. 

Six committees were formed to deal respect- 
ively with finance, advertising, transportation, 
programme, illumination and hotel. Mr. John 
S. Mofiitt, who had been at the head of most of 
the collecting funds for illuminations in prior 



years, was appointed chairman of the finance 
committee, which at once proceeded to attempt 
the so-called impossible task of raising enough 
money to carry out the plans of the promoters 
of the organization. Every' professional and 
mercantile interest in the city was classified and 
nearly a hundred sub-committees were appointed 
to assist in obtaining subscriptions. Extraordi- 
nary success followed the efforts. A spirit of 
rivalry of the most friendly character was estab- 
lished between the different trades and profes- 
sions, and not to subscribe to the fund was to 
form an exception to a remarkably general rule. 
That the Old St. Louis spirit was well-nigh 
dead was proved by the fact that the collectors 
only met with four rebuffs during their entire 
work. A hundred thousand dollars was secured 
the first week, and the work went on through- 
out the summer in the most satisfactory manner. 
Not only did the capitalists and employ-ers of 
labor subscribe freely, but the laborers them- 
selves came forward and contributed. Nearly 
every member of the police force and of the fire 
department, in addition to hundreds of traveling 
men and clerks, joined the procession, and the 
city acquired a proprietary interest in the asso- 
ciation which it could not have done had the 
money been raised from the few instead of the 
many. A generation hence the list of subscribers 
to the Autumnal Festivities Association will be 
looked upon as a roll of honor, for wdiile it may 
be true that 

The evil that rneu do lives after them, 
The good is oft interred with their bones, 

this cannot be said to be the case with or- 
ganizations of what are sometimes incorrectly 
described as a " boom " order. Hence, wdiile 
the good influences of the festi\'ities association 
are manifest to-day, they will be ten times more 
so twenty and fifty years hence, when much of 
the good seed sown during the last two and a 
half }-ears will have borne fruit a hundred and a 
thousand-fold. The work of collection was con- 
tinued during 18112, but the financial uneasiness 
in l<Sil3 made it impossible to solicit new svd> 
scriptions. Fortunately, the remarkable manner 
in which St. Louis weathered the storm enabled 



SOME AIDS TO PROGRESS. 



83 



the association to collect almost every dollar 
promised it, and a total of more than $(500,000 
was received, including as cash the large snms 
generously donated by the local newspapers for 
advertising purposes. 

Mr. J. C. Wilkinson became chairman of the 
illumination committee, which pro\-ided for St. 
lyouis during the years 18!t2 and 1893 the most 
magnificent street illuminations ever attempted 
in this or any other city. Space prevents a de- 
tailed description of these illuminations. More 
than 70,000 lights, half electric and half gas, 
were used for the purpose, and the down-town 
streets were made a veritable blaze of light. 
The electrical panorama which were seen on the 
widest streets, and at the most conspicuous 
points, excited the admiration of the hundreds of 
thousands of visitors who were attracted to the 
cit3' by them. Mr. Wilkinson earned the praise 
of every one b}^ the ingenuity of the designs 
and by the determined manner in which he in- 
sisted upon novelties being produced in the face 
of technical objections and forecasts of certain 
failure. 

Mr. Goodman King was 
ajDpoiuted chairman of the 
advertising committee, the 
name of which was changed to the Bureau of 
Information in consequence of the vast scope 
of its operations. As the writer of "Old and 
New St. Louis " is the secretary of this bureau, 
Mr. Julian Ralph, whose able and comprehensive 
article in Hai-pcr'' s New Moiif/ilv has already 
been referred to more than once, will be quoted 
as to its work and operations: " The bureau," 
says Mr. Ralph, "has offices in St. Louis, and 
has also arranged to open others in London and 
other cities in pursuit of a systematic effort to 
advertise the commercial, social and sanitary ad- 
vantageswhich St. Louis possesses. It may cause 
a smile to read that Chairman King and Secretary 
Cox report, in a circular now before me, what 
work the Bureau of Information has done ' to 
correct any false impressions which ha\e been 
created by the too great modesty of St. Louis- 
aus in the past.' But they are right, for, as 
compared with its rival, St. Louis possessed 



THE BUREAU 
OF INFORMATION. 



that defect, and the frank admission of such a 
hated fault shows how far removed and reformed 
from retarding bashfulness that city has since 
become. The bureau reports that it is causing 
the publication of half-page advertisements of 
St. Louis, precisely as if it were a business or a 
patent medicine, in sixty-two papers,* circulat- 
ing more than a million copies; that it has 
obtained reading notices in all these dailies; 
that ' articles on St. Louis as a manufacturing 
and commercial metropolis and as a carnival 
cit)-' are sent out every da>-; that arrangements 
are being made for a weekly mail letter to 500 
southern and western journals, and that once 
or twice a week news items are sent to the 
principal dailies of the whole countrv. It was 
found that St. Louis was not fairlv treated in 
the weekly trade reports published generallv 
throughout the country, and this source of com- 
plaint has been removed. Invading the camp 
of the arch-enemy — Chicago — the bureau has 
caused a handsome ' Guide to Chicago ' to add 
to its title the words, ' And St. Louis, the Car- 
nival City of America.' It is also getting up a 
rich and notable book to be called ' vSt. Louis 
Through a Camera ' for circulation among all 
English-speaking peoples. The local service 
for the press telegraphic agencies has been 
greatly improved, ' and the efforts of the bureau 
to increase the number and extent of the notices 
of St. Louis in the daily papers throughout the 
United States have continued to prove success- 
hil," .so that 'instead of St. Louis being ignored 
or referred to in a very casual manner, it is now 
recognized as fully as any other large city in 
America.' 

' ' I have described the operations of this asso- 
ciation and its most active bureau at some 
length because they exhibit the farthest ex- 
treme yet reached in the development of the 
most extraordinary phase of western enterprise. 
There we see a city managed by its people as a 
wide-awake modern merchant looks after his 

*Tliis was comparatively early iu the bureau's issue. 
It subsequently made use of the columns of more than 
4,000 American newspapers, periodicals and magazines, 
and issued 60,000 copies of the book spoken of in this ar- 
ticle as being " got up." 



84 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



THE NEW 
PLANTERS' HOUSE. 



business. It is advertised and ' written up ' and 
pushed upon the attention of the world, with all 
its good features clearly and proudly set forth. 
There is boasting in the process, but it is always 
based upon actual merit, for St. L,ouis is an old 
and proud city, and there is no begging at all. 
The methods are distinctly legitimate, and the 
work accomplished is hard work paid for by 
hard cash. It is considered a shrewd invest- 
ment of energy and capital, and not a specula- 
tion. If we in the eastern cities, who are said 
to be ' fossilized,' are not inclined to imitate 
such a remarkable example of enterprise, we 
cannot help admiring the concord and the 
hearty local pride from which it springs." 

Another committee 
which has achieved re- 
markable success is the 
hotel committee, of which Mr. M. C. Wetmore is 
chairman. Authorized to offer a bonus of 
$100,000 for the erection of a fire-proof hotel on 
approved plans and on an acceptable site, at a 
cost of not less than $1,000, 000, it proceeded at 
once to make its mission known and to invite 
offers from corporations and capitalists. Vari- 
ous propositions were made, but no actual 
advance was made until a number of local capi- 
talists, including several members of the asso- 
ciation, joined together, purchased the old 
Planters' House, removed the old structure and 
commenced the erection of a fire-proof hotel, 
which is now nearly completed and which can 
be described as one of the finest hotels in 
America, with an unlimited number of new 
ideas and improvements in it. One of the great 
events of 1894 will be the opening of this mag- 
nificent hostelry, which will cost by the time it 
is ready for opening nearly $2,000,000. It 
bears as little resemblance to the old Planters' 
House as New St. Louis does to Old St. Louis, 
and, indeed, the two buildings may well be 
taken as types of the correct thing forty years ago 
and now. The hotel fronts on Fourth street, 
and is bounded by Pine and Chestnut streets. 
It is ten full stories high, and its front is de- 
signed in the form of an inverted E, with two 
recessed courts so arranged that of the 400 



apartments nearly every one is a front room. 
The st>le of internal decorations is not finally 
settled, but it will be as fine as money can pro- 
cure; and the hotel will be a source of admira- 
tion not only in St. Louis, but through the 
entire West. Various names were suggested 
for the hotel when it was designed and while it 
was in course of erection. It has, however, 
been called, by general consent, the New Plant- 
ers' House, a name which it will probably re- 
tain, although it was at one time proposed to 
call it the Columbian Hotel, a name which 
would have been very appropriate and which 
would have served as a perpetual reminder of 
the date of the building's erection. This detail, 
however, is not of such great importance as the 
hotel itself, and, having got this latter, St. Louis 
is not worrying itself greatly over the minor 
question. 

The Autumnal Festivities Association was 
formed for three seasons, those of "Jl, '92 and 
'93, and while these pages are in press it is 
practically winding up its operation and termi- 
nating its work. In some shape or other it 
will, however, be perpetuated; for an associa- 
tion of a permanent character will certainly be 
formed during 1894 to carry on the work inau- 
gurated by the festivities association and to so 
large an extent successfully accomplished. 

One exceptionally useful influence of the asso- 
ciation will be found in the increased facilities 
it has provided for the accommodation of dele- 
gates to conventions. St. Louis has earned' the 
title of the Carnival City of America in conse- 
quence of the lavish nature of its festivities and 
entertainments, and it has also long been known 
as the City of Conventions, because its phenom- 
enal hospitality and its exceptional railroad facil- 
ities ha\'e made it the most popular city in the 
country for the holding of con\-entions, political, 
social and commercial. As long ago as 18(57 a 
River Convention, with delegates from over 
twenty States and Territories, convened in the 
old Mercantile Library Hall, which was one of 
the largest public meeting places in the West. 
The convention laid the foundation for many im- 
provements which the Federal goxerumeut has 



SOME AIDS TO PROGRESS. 



85 



THE GREAT 
CONVENTION YEARS. 



since carried out on the Mississippi river. Rail- 
road conventions of great importance, but less 
national in character, had been held before, but 
this gathering excited almost universal atten- 
tion. In the winter of 1872 a National Com- 
mercial Convention was held. In 1875 a Na- 
tional Railroads Convention was held, and many 
measures of importance decided upon. The un- 
varying success of the local entertainment com- 
mittees in making delegates comfortable resulted 
in a strong effort being made to secure the hold- 
ing of the Democratic Nominating Convention 
in St. Louis in 187(3, and there was a general 
feeling of satisfaction when the telegraphic news 
announced that the Democrats proposed to nom- 
inate the next President of the United States 
here. The convention was held, and was a 
marked success, as was also the great River 
Convention of 1881. 

During the eighties 
conventions followed each 
other in rapid succession. 
In 1885 a Cattle Convention of great importance 
was held, and 1886 and 1887 were the banner 
years of St. Louis in the matter of conventions. 
In the former year the physicians, photograph- 
ers and butchers of the United States met suc- 
cessively in annual convention in the Exposition 
Hall, and enjoyed not only satisfactory and well- 
attended business meetings, but a glorious time 
of recreation as well, the citizens never tiring of 
subscribing to entertainment firnds. The con- 
vention boom of 188G culminated in the Knights 
Templar Triennial Conclave, during which car- 
nival reigned supreme. An immediate outcome 
of the success of the 1886 convention season was 
the selection of St. Louis for the Grand Army 
Reunion in 1887. This was followed by a visit 
from President and Mrs. Cleveland, whose wel- 
come was one they will never forget. The fes- 
tivities were on a high order, and attracted 
enormous crowds. In 1888 the Democratic 
party held its Nominating Convention in the Ex- 
position Building, where the National Saenger- 
bund also met. 

Passing over several important gatherings, 
mention may be made of the grand Odd Fellows' 



Convention in 1891, which was a success beyond 
expectation. In 1892 the People's party held 
its organizing conference in the city, and during 
the same year an important Nicaragua Canal 
Convention was held. In 189;} the National 
Electric Light Association held its convention 
in the city, and the Exposition was besieged with 
applications for standing room to hear Nicola 
Tesla describe his triumphs over the mysteries 
of electricity. The furniture manufacturers, the 
saddlers, the florists, and the builders, as well as 
many other commercial organizations, met in 
convention in the city during the year, as did 
also an important monetary and trade convention 
of the Western States. During the fall the 
Autumnal Festivities Association also enter- 
tained the foreign commissioners to the World's 
Fair, and other delegations of importance were 
seen here. 

A history of St. Louis and its conventions 
alone could be written and provide material for 
a large volume. All that has been attempted is 
to show how thoroughly St. Louis is entitled to 
the name " Convention City," and how admira- 
bly it has learnt its lesson as to how to enter- 
tain. 

• St. IrOuis holds 
the record of ten 
consecutive annual 
expositions, each of 
which has more than paid its own expenses. It 
had long been accepted as a proved fact that no 
city could maintain an exposition year after year 
successfully. Even London, by far the largest 
city in the world, and the first city in which an 
international exposition was ever held, has failed 
in more than one attempt to maintain a success- 
ful annual display of manufactured and artistic 
goods; and in nearly every large city in this 
country an exposition building, diverted from its 
original use to manufacturing or store-room 
purposes, stands out in bold relief in silent testi- 
mony to another failure. But in all the bright 
vocabulary of St. Louis, is no such word as 
"fail," and the Exposition has proved a success 
every year since it was first opened, namely, in 
1884. In 1883 a number of gentlemen met at 



THE 

TEN-TIMES SUCCESSFUL 

EXPOSITION. 



86 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



the ^Mercantile Club, and after talking over the 
possibility of erecting an exposition building and 
holding an annual exposition, decided to ignore 
the diiificulties and make the attempt. The en- 
tire funds for the work were raised locally, and 
although the bulk of the money was subscribed 
in the form of stock, it is only just to the original 
investors to state that they had little or no hope 
of return, and were actuated more by a spirit of 
local pride and enthusiasm than a desire to ob- 
tain a good investment. The nominal cost of 
the Exposition Building, which was built during 
the years 1883-84 on a six-acre site on Olive 
and St. Charles streets, between Thirteenth and 
Fourteenth streets, was $750,000, but so much 
money has been spent in perfecting the structure 
that $1,000,000 should be named as the ap- 
proximate actual cost. The building is too well 
known to all St. Louis people to need a detailed 
description. The large music hall has 3,507 
numbered seats, and on special occasions will 
accommodate twice as many people. The space 
intended for general displays is very large and 
admirably arranged, and from the first the E.x- 
position was a sticcess. 

It was opened in September, 1884, and during 
the season, which lasted six weeks, over 500,000 
people passed through the turnstiles. Every 
year it has repeated its triumph, and nearly 
6,000,000 people have paid admission fee since 
the first opening. For several years Patrick 
Sarsfield Gilmore and his famous band fur- 
nished the music every season. In 1892 Col. 
Gilmore commenced the season with his band of 
100 pieces, and just as he was enjoying the tri- 
timph of his life, that life ended with painful 
suddenness and the Exposition suffered severely 
in consequence. In 1893 John Phillip Sousa 
commenced a three-years' engagement with his 
unrivaled band, and during the season Madame 
Scalchi and other artists of international repute 
assisted in the concerts. The attendance in 
1893 far exceeded expectations. It had been 
feared that the competition of the World's Fair, 
added to the general financial depression, would 
have resulted in a serious falling off in attend- 
ance, and the loss on the season was debated 



very freely by those to whom ignorance is never 
bliss, but rather the reverse: Long before the 
close of the season it became evident that there 
would be a handsome surplus, and when the 
season closed there remained a profit consider- 
ably in excess of $25,000 — a wonderful achieve- 
ment when the exceptional difficulties of the 
year are taken into account. Twenty years 
hence the work of the E.xposition management 
will be appreciated much more highly than it is 
to-day, but even now it is generally realized that 
the men who have made the Exposition a suc- 
cess and who have enabled the entire bonded 
indebtedness to be paid off, deserve the thanks 
of the entire city. The first president of the 
Exposition was Mr. Sam. M. Kennard, who 
bore the burden and heat of the day for nine 
years and then insisted on being allowed to 
retire. He was succeeded by Gov. E. O. 
Stanard, who gave to the duties of the office the 
careful attention which has marked his honored 
career. He in turn was succeeded late in 1893 
by Mr. T. B. Boyd. Too much credit cannot 
be given to General Manager Frank Gaieunie, 
whose success in 1893 must be regarded as phe- 
nomenal and by whose efforts some of the choic- 
est exhibits at the World's Fair have been 
secured for the local display of 1894 and 1895. 
This promises quite a change in the appearance 
of the Exposition next year; and in view of the 
enterprise of the management, there seems no 
reason to doubt that the St. Louis Exposition 
will continue year after year with unabated 
triumph. 

Although not what may be termed a New 
St. Louis institution, the St. Louis Agricultural 
and Mechanical Association deserves credit for the 
3'eoman service it has rendered year after year. 
At one time the St. Louis Fair was one of the 
greatest events in the West, and although neither 
the city or country fair is the attraction it once 
was, the St. Louis Fair continues the greatest 
thing of its kind in the world. The build- 
ing of the new Jockey Club House, and the 
erection and opening of the new grand stand 
are more strictly of the newer order of things, 
and some very excellent racing has been seen in 



SOM/-: AIDS TO PROGRESS. 



St. Louis. The Veiled Prophet has assisted the 

institution in a variety of ways, and has timed 

his visits so as to make them come in Fair week, 

or the first complete week of October. 

The opening of the finest base-ball park in 

America in 1893 serves as a reminder of the 

fame St. Louis base-ball players have obtained. 

Although not now world's champions the 

"Browns" are still great ball plavers, and a 

third world's championship flag will in the near 

future float over Sportsman's Park. 

jMore strictly commer- 
TRAFFIC COMMISSION . , , 

cial than these agencies 

are the TrafBc Commis- 
SPANISH CLUB. ^-^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ Spanish 

Club, already referred to. The Traffic Commis- 
sion, as at present organized, is a most useful 
body, and it has done work for St. Louis com- 
merce which it would have taken many years to 
accomplish by indi\-idual effort. It has insisted 
upon justice to the city in the matter of freight 
rates, and has succeeded in adjusting an im- 
mense number of irregularities and discrimina- 
tions against this city. By its aid hundreds of 
miles of territory have been added to the district 
easily accessible to St. Louis trade, and it is still 
continuing its good work in a variety of ways. 
The commission has permanent offices in the 
Equitable Building, and is under the active 
management of Traffic Commissioner Osgood, a 
railroad man of unlimited experience and marked 
ability. 

The work of the Spanish Club has already 
been enlarged upon. It is an institution which 
has somewhat hid its light under a bushel in 
the past, and although it has increased railroad 
and river connection between St. Louis and 
Mexico, secured reduction in rates amounting to 
quite a substantial percentage, and more than 
doubled the trade between Mississippi and 
Spanish-American points, but a comparatively 
few people appreciate the extent of its work and 
its triumphs. The club has now handsome 
quarters in the Columbia Building. Its presi- 
dent is Mr. L. D. Kingsland, and its secretary Mr. 
S. L. Biggers, both of whom have traveled ex- 
tensively through Spanish-speaking countries. 



The assistant and acting secretary is Mr. Ber- 
nard Mackey, for many years in the consular 
service. 

The Citizens' Smoke Abatement Association 
is another organization designed to aid the trade 
as well as the salubrity of St. Louis. Nearly 
all the coal used for manufacturing purposes in 
St. Louis is bituminous, and the quantity of 
smoke sent out by the countless chimneys is 
very destructive to stocks of merchandise, in 
addition to being objectionable from both the 
standpoints of health and comfort. As the re- 
sult of prolonged agitation, the Citizens' Smoke 
Abatement Association was formed some two 
years ago. It has succeeded in obtaining legis- 
lation against the emission of smoke. An im- 
mense number of boiler-jDlant owners have co- 
operated with the association and abated the 
smoke without waiting for legal proceedings. 
Those who failed to fall in with the procession 
are now being proceeded against in the courts, 
and although in a manufacturing city like St. 
Louis there will always be a certain amount of 
smoke, the smoke nuisance will be so far re- 
duced as to be practically abated. 

During the last few 
months the Merchants' Ex- 
change has purchased the 
building, a portion of which it has occupied for 
several years. The Exchange is the successor 
of one of the oldest commercial institutions of 
the West. In 1886 a meeting of merchants 
and traders was held and the St. Louis Chamber 
of Commerce established. It did not resemble 
in any way our present Merchants' Exchange, 
being rather a large market and commission 
house, with arrangements for arbitration in dis- 
putes. In 1.S47 ground was purchased at the 
corner of Third and Chestnut streets for the 
purpose of erecting an exchange building, and 
in 1.S49 the Merchants' Exchange was estab- 
lished and carried on more or less in connection 
with the Chamber of Commerce. The Millers' 
Convention was formed shortly afterwards; and 
the Millers' Exchange, established at Nos. 9 
and 11 Locust street, was the first exchange in 
the United States established for the purpose of 



THE MERCHANTS' 
EXCHANGE. 



88 



OLD AXD NEW ST. LOUIS. 



bringing together buyers and sellers of grain. 
In 1855 a movement was started which resulted 
in the erection of the Exchange Hall, on Main 
street, which for many years was the great cen- 
ter of trade in the city. During the war political 
differences led to the organization of the Union 
Merchants' Exchange, a name which was re- 
tained until 1X75, when it was changed to the 
Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis, and all the 
organizations were practically amalgamated. 
In 1874 the corner-stone was laid for the present 
Chamber of Commerce, which still continues to 
be one of the finest exchanges of its character 
in America. The grand hall is 221 feet in 
length, 92 feet wide and 80 feet high. The 
ceiling is perhaps the most appropriate and 
handsome in the country. It is finished in 
elaborate fresco work, with paintings in the 
panels. In their general details these are strik- 
ingly magnificent. The north panel is conspic- 
uous for its characteristic types of England, 
Germany, Italy, France, Scotland and other 
nations of the Old World in the central group, 
with others surrounding. The southern panel has 
types of Asiatic and African countries, and on 
the cornice are the States of the Union, desig- 
nated by name. 

The Exchange membership includes some 
three thousand of the leading men of the citv. 
The first president of the Chamber of Commerce 
was Mr. Edward Tracy. He was succeeded by 
Messrs. Wayman Crow, George K. McGunnegle, 
W. N. Morrison, Alfred Vincent, R. M. Henning, 
Henry Ames, E. M. Ryland, R. M. Funk- 
houser, D. A. January and William Mathews. 
The following gentlemen ha\e served as presi- 
dents of the Merchants' Exchange: 



18G2 Henry J. Moore. 
1S63 George Partridge. 

1864 Thomas Richeson. 

1865 Barton Able. 

1866 E. O. Stanard. 

1867 C. L. Tucker. 

1868 John J. Roe. 

1869 George P. Plant. 

1870 Wm. J. Lewis. 

1871 Gerard B. Allen. 

1872 R. P. Taxsey. 

1873 Wm. H. Scudder. 

1874 Web. M. Samuel. 

1875 D. P. Rowland. 

1876 Nathan Cole. 

1877 John A. Scudder. 



1878 George Bain. 

1879 John Wahl. 

1880 Alex. H. Smith. 
ISSl Michael McEnnis. 

1882 Chas. E. Slayback. 

1883 J. C. EwALD. 

1884 D. R. Francis. 

1885 Henry C. Haarstick. 
18R6 S. W. Cobb. 

1887 Frank Gaiennie. 

1888 Chas. F. Orthwein. 

1889 Chas. A. Cox. 

1890 John W. Kauffman. 

1891 Marcus Bernheimer. 

1892 Isaac M. Mason. 

1893 W. T. Anderson. 



Mr. George H. Morgan has been secretary and 
treasurer since the year 1865. 

The Builders' E.xchange is the successor of 
the Mechanics' Exchange, another institution 
which has done good service in concentrating 
and developing the trade and commerce of St. 
lyouis. It was originally organized in 1839; it 
was reorganized on a wider basis, under the 
name of the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' 
Exchange and Library Association of St. Louis, 
in 1852. In 185(3 there was another reorgani- 
zation, and the exchange was established very 
much on the basis on which it exists to-day. 
In 1879 its headquarters were at 100 North 
Fourth street, and later its headquarters were 
on Seventh street, between Chestnut and Market. 
Upwards of a year ago, it moved into elegant 
offices in the Telephone Building, where it con- 
tinues to exercise a most beneficent influence 
on the building and kindred trades and interests 
of the city. It is universally regarded as one of 
the permanent institutions of the city of St. 
Louis, and is devoted to the building and ma- 
terial interests of the city, affording an oppor- 
tunity to its members and all engaged in the 
building business to enjoy the great advantage 
of having a meeting place in the central part of 
the city for the consideration of questions of 
importance relating to trade matters, lettings, 
and so forth. The hall is so large that it is 
used for conventions and similar gatherings. 
Mr. Richard Walsh is the secretary, and the 
1893 president is Mr. Wm. J. Baker. 

The limits of space forbid a detailed history 
of the Real Estate Exchange, Coal Exchange, 
Brewers' Association, the Associated Wholesale 
Grocers of St. Louis, the Retail Grocers' Asso- 
ciation, the Furniture Board of Trade, of which 
mention has already been made; the Cotton Ex- 
change, the Wool and Fur Association, the Live 
Stock Exchange, the newly-formed Wholesale 
Clothing Association, and of the other organiza- 
tions designed to aid the city's commerce in 
various directions. St. Louis is fortunate in both 
the number and extent of these associations, and 
the influence of their work has been felt in a 
large variety of ways. 



FINANCE AND BANKING. 



89 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FINANCE AND BANKING. 

NEW ST. LOUIS AN IMPORTANT FINANCIAL CENTER.-BANK CLEARINGS.-TRUST COMPANIES 

AND BUILDING ASSOCIATIONS. 




E HAVE ALREADY seen that St. 
Louis is the great manufacturing and 
commercial center of a district even 
larger than that which is generally 
described as the Mississippi Valley. 
It is equally true that St. Louis is 
the great financial center of a district almost as 
large. The banks of St. Louis are known 
throughout the entire country for their solidity 
and for the conservative policy which has char- 
acterized their management. The year 1893 
was a peculiarly trying one for banks, and from 
ever}' large city in the Union there came reports 
of distrust and uneasiness, followed, in very 
many cases, by records of actual suspension. 
None of the cities of the first class went through 
the ordeal entirely scathless, with the single 
exception of St. Louis, where there was not a 
single bank failure, nor even a suspicion of 
insolvency. Had it not been for the reports 
telegraphed from other cities, and the doleful 
forecasts of impending national calamity, St. 
Louis would have gone through the year with- 
out any knowledge of the panic, and its financial 
institutions would have done their ordinary bus- 
iness just as if it had been a great boom year. 
As it was, the reports of disasters elsewhere 
naturally led to timid depositors withdrawing 
money from the banks, but thanks to the solid 
rock foundation of these institutions, the with- 
drawals did not cause them any alarm, and, al- 
though the reduction in the amount of loanable 
capital necessarily hampered commercial prog- 
ress, all demands were promptly met; and it was 
proved that, with all its energy and enterprise, 



New St. Louis is just as solid and substantial as 
the unduly conservative Old St. Louis used to be. 
The history of banking institutions in St. Louis 
need not be traced at any great length in this 
work. In 1816 the Missouri Gazette wrote on 
"the opulent town of St. Louis, with a capital 
of nearly .$1,000,000," but went on to complain 
that there was no bank in the city to foster 
business, although the territorial legislature had 
granted a charter for one three years before. 
The banks of St. Louis and of Missouri, to which 
reference has already been made, were estab- 
lished soon after this, and the use of peltry and 
hides in place of money began to die out. The 
Bank of the State of Missouri appears to have done 
the bulk of the banking business for some time 
after this, and in November, 1829, this institu- 
tion, in consequence of the suspension of a num- 
ber of eastern bahks, passed a resolution that in 
the future it would receive and pay only its own 
notes and specie on the notes of specie-paying 
banks. Something of a local panic followed, and 
on November l.'kh a meeting was held to take 
into consideration the action of the bank. A 
number of the prominent capitalists of the city, 
including George Collier, E. Tracy, Pierre 
Chouteau, John Walsh, William Glasgow, John 
Perry, Henry Von Phul, John Kerr, G. K. 
McGunnegle, Joseph C. Leveille and John 
O'Fallon, with great public spirit pledged theni- 
seh-es to indemnify the bank against any loss it 
might sustain by the depreciation in notes. The 
offer was somewhat discourteously declined, and 
as a result the Bank of the State of Missouri was 
practically boycotted, and the St. Louis Gas 



90 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



Light and the various insurance companies 
transacted most of the banking business. 

Private banking houses sprang into existence 
about this time, and the financial troubles of 
LSfio and 1854 were reflected on this city. In 
January, 1855, there was a run on several private 
banks and some of a more public character; but 
once more the public-spirited men of St. Louis 
came forward and checked the run by guarantee- 
ing deposits in the banking houses of Lucas & 
Simouds, Bogy, Miltenberg & Company, Tesson 
& Dangen, L. A. Benoist & Company, J. J. 
Anderson & Company, Darby & Barksdale and 
the Boatmen's Savings Institution. The panic 
was at an end and business was resumed as be- 
fore. In 1857 there was a renewal of trouble, 
but once more it was met in the same generous- 
hearted manner. After the war the banking 
institutions of St. Louis gathered strength, and 
until the panic of 1873 the local financial needs 
were well met. In that year $300,000 of 
"brown-backs " were issued. They took their 
name from the fact that owing to the dearth of 
currency, Mayor Brown recommended the Coun- 
cil to issue warrants to the extent of $300,000. 
The proposition was accepted and the warrants 
or notes issued. The financial transaction was 
a unique one, and served its purpose remarkal)ly 
well. Confidence was restored, and although 
there was further difficulty in 1887, that year 
may be named as the last in which there was 
any serious trouble with St. Louis banks. 

Early in the year 1887 
St. Louis was made a 
central reser\-e city and 
a depositary for national banks of other cities. 
This recognition b\- the Federal government of 
the importance of St. Louis as a financial cen- 
ter has had the effect of making St. Louis ex- 
change used much more generally throughout 
the entire West and Southwest, and a very nuich 
larger number of banks in other cities have in- 
cluded St. Louis financial institutions in their 
lists of correspondents. Several of the largest 
firms have still further emphasized the impor- 
tance of St. Louis by remitting their personal 
checks on city banks for the payment of ac- 



ST. LOUIS A CENTRAL 
RESERVE CITY. 



counts due in other cities. This practice has 
not yet become as general as it ought to be, and 
efforts ha\'e been made during the last two or 
three j^ears to make the practice universal. 
Some firms still adhere to the old practice of pur- 
chasing exchange on New York and remitting 
the same in payment of accounts, a practice 
which involves a loss in illegitimate bank clear- 
ings of several millions per month. 

A large majority of the city banks favor the 
remitting of personal checks in preference to 
the purchase of exchange, and their influence is 
being gradually made perceptible in the right 
direction. In the days of Old St. Louis it was 
quite a usual practice for large firms to keep a 
banking account in New York, and to pay all 
eastern accounts by checks drawn on their New 
York banks. This plan is obviously unjust to a 
city of the magnitude of St. Louis, and, although 
it will take several years to make the remission 
of St. Louis checks to all outside points general, 
it is gratifying to know that very few firms now 
adhere to the plan of checking on New York 
instead of on banks of their own city. Corisid- 
ering the high financial standing of St. Louis 
banks and the central location of the city, St. 
Louis checks ought to be accepted at par in all 
parts of the countr\', and they are done so when 
any attempt is made to insist. 

Only once has New St. Louis seen a bank fail- 
ure. That was eight years ago, and was the 
result of a personal breach of trust, and not of 
commercial or financial dei^ression. The last 
statement as to banks and banking capital in 
Old St. Louis shows that the capital and surplus 
was $13,492,9(54; the savings and time deiwsits, 
fS, 901, 522; the current deposits, $32,827,489, 
and the circulation, $632,850. This was in 
1882, and at the present time the banking busi- 
ness of the city has gained such proportions that 
the capital of the national banks alone exceeds 
$20,000,000; the surplus and profits, $3,000,000, 
and the loans and discounts, $23,000,000. The 
following official statement of the twentj'-six 
leading St. Louis banks, is one of which the 
city is naturally proud, and it shows very clearly 
the financial solidity of New St. Louis: 



FINANCE AND BANKING. 



91 



OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE TWENTY-SIX LEADING ST. LOUIS BANKS. 

RE.SOURCES. 



BANK. 



Bauk of Commerce 

Boatmeu's 

Fourth National 
Continental Nat'l 

State Bank 

St. Louis National 
German Savings 

Mechanics' 

Commercial 

Laclede National 

Third National 

German-American 

Franklin 

Merchants' Nat'l 

Lafayette 

Am. Exchange 

Northwestern 

Nat. B. of Republic 

Bremen 

Mullanphy 

Chemical National 
International 

Citizens' 

South Side 

Southern Com'l .. 
Jefferson 



Currency 
and 
Coin . 



,499,834.30 
.124,463. 
y7L840.56 
938,732.01 
767,174.68 
59L333,8S 
365,262.70 
695,871.13 
,050,234.63 
645,478.65 
430,00L64 
567,324.95 
294,702.05 
522,275.47 
310,846.93 
183,69L9l 
86,344.60 
233,519.29 
69,563.45 
80,518.10 
130,599.73 
138,265.30 
219,601.25 
140,483.39 
12,192 95 
37,143.65 



Checks 

and 

Exchange. 



Loans and 
Discounts. 



82-',593 

492,77*;, 

2><4,638. 

789,427. 

187,645. 

748,350. 

398,865. 

501,649. 

3:i9,782 

410,756. 

332,629. 

259,664. 

181,108. 

197,538. 

209,344. 

161,661. 

121,270. 

243,515 

145,169. 
33,306 
98,535 
36,220 
66,614 
92,015, 
21,729, 
4,160 



48^ #5 
79i 5 
56' 3 



82.42; 2 



844,068.25 
,481,271.46 
290,032.37 
909,671.38 
260,564.04 
675,369.12 
745,923.50 
659,568.56 
171,975.86 
370,824.61 
091,922.00 
651,002.83 
625,649.52 
934,707.56 
715,367.17 
643,539.27 
120,462.51 
044,564.58 
691,123.06 
825,103.15 
796,249.37 
589,943.72 
514,212.4( 
441,790.23 
205,314.79 
121,190:D5 



Bonds and 
Stocks. 



724,071.37 
259,050.24 
664,610.00 
508,703.79 
286.327.73 

56,000.00 

490,000.00 

3,523.00 

4,977.10 

69,500.00 

94,612 50 
480,200.00 
6.54,630.00 

58,000.00 

224,300.00 

3,200.00 

352,127.68 

60,850.00 
265,.500.00 
154,513.24 

57,000.00 

64,289.04 

5,825.9: 

113,386.00 

5,797.77 



Heal Estate, 

Furniture and 

Fl-xtures. 



I 



530,000.00 
508,321.85 
:20,237.65 
50,000.00 
44,269.91 
211,000.00 
63,131.37 



50,663.97 
180,000.00 

30.000.00 
134,000.00 



Expense. 



Overdrafts . 



Totals. 



43,002.25 

6,871.77 



24,863.15 



23,752 30 



500.00 
126.64' 



17,500.00 

19,000.00 

37,831.46 

10,000.00 

59,789.62 

9,879.94 

3,800 00 

10,774.48 

1,900.00 



231.41 



J. 



1,922.06 

75,313.85, 

3,074.15 

418.22 
6,225.2S 
21,160.64 
5.091.89 
1.120.10 
3,929.08 
1,108.49 
5,882.80 

536.72 
2,830.91 
1,486.42 
5,329.80 
10,474.22 
1,315.10 

394.46 

567.54 
2,316.80 
3,328.66 

278.54 
2,062.41 
1,906.02 

406.90 
•2,235.19 



422 
7,941 
5,277, 
5,196, 
4,5.V2 
4,310, 
4,068 
3,861 
3,500, 
3,473, 
3,135, 
2,988, 
2,892, 
2,737, 
2,465, 
2.002, 
1,689, 
1,600. 
1,190, 
1,133 
1,095, 
888, 
818, 
793 
256 
166 



489.46 
200.08 
435.. 54 
952.44 
206.98 
076.25 
264.57 
732.69 
899.09 
105.75 
048.86 
729.05 
920.75 
760.65 
687.99 
693.04 
520.47 
343. GO 
923.34 
589.45 
945.12 
786.37 
,196.35 
381.02 
216.59 
629.31 



LIABILITIES. 



BANK. 



Bank of Commerce 

Boatmen's 

Fourth National 
Continental Nat'l 

State Bank 

St. Louis National 
German Savings.. 

Mechanics' 

Commercial 

Laclede National 
Third National..., 
German-American 

Franklin 

Merchants' Nat'l 

Lafayette 

Am. Exchange 
Northwestern .. 
Nat. B. of Republic 

Bremen 

Mullanphy 

Chemical Nat'l 

International ..... 

Citizens' 

South Side 

Southern Com'l 

Jefferson 



Capital. 



p. 000, 

2,000, 

1 ,000, 

2,000, 

650, 

1,000. 

2.50, 

600, 

500 

1,000 

1,000 

150 

200 

700 

100 

500 

100 

500 

100 

100 

500 

200, 

200, 

300 

100, 

100, 



Surplus 
and Profits. 



Circulation 



000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.0(1 
000.00 

000.00 

000.00 
,000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
,000.00 
,000.00 
,000.00 
000.00 
,000.00 
,000.00 
,000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.00 

noo.oo 

000.00 
000.00 
000.00 



( 884, 

541, 

848, 

259, 

1,197, 

190, 

524. 

688, 

530, 

194, 

330, 

661 

462 

246 

•251 

357 

134 

24 

137 

160 

36, 

84 

71 

35 

14 

3. 



604. 
535. 

179. 
883. 
089. 
212. 
511. 
200. 
219. 
711. 
987. 
019. 
931. 
,972. 
,2,84, 
,738, 
,099 
.442, 
,000, 
,885, 
288. 
,872, 
,665. 
,323, 
069, 
239. 



% 45,000.00 

45,000.00 
45,000.00 



45,000.00 



45.000.00 
45,000.00 



45,000.00 



45,000.00 



45,000.00 



Individual 
Deposits. 



,f;3,032.192. 
3,012,400. 
1,787,1.54. 
1,624,577. 
2,081,305. 
1,315,403. 
1,515,772. 
1,745,793. 
2,202,974. 
1,401,134. 
1,045,055. 
1,394.191. 
1,0.37,768. 
1,064,005. 

957,325. 

798.090. 

414,822 

443,197. 

402,521. 

334.220. 

344,345. 

400,853. 

415,230. 

306,311. 
91,034. 
59,556, 



Hank 
Deposits. 



)fl, 578,014. 63 

365,475.66 

1,153,921.30 

1,133,084.84 

233,281.73 

1,696,269.47 

30,590.72 

361,269.48 

311,934.74 

745,993.38 

714,005.77 

137,085.75 

216,781.45 

475,241.28 

3,918.01 

184,152.81 

503,411.11 

9,374.43 

90,669.33 

56.73 

10,783.35 

17,228.41 



Time 
Deposits. 



t 882,667. 

1,921,797. 

393,179. 

134,407. 

391,530. 

163,190. 

1,528,843. 

402,128. 

16,770. 

86,356. 



Bills 
Payable. 



76$. 

72 

32 

46 

11 



646,432 

975,439 

206,641 

1,153,359 

92,752 

1,040,597 

84,292 

551,401 

529,108 

79,642 

203,003 

120,516 

134,517 

51,112 

3,833 



50,000.00 



218,.545 82 
64,310.41 



Totals. 



69,958.79 



6.59 



,422,489.46 
,941,200.08 
,277, 435.. 54 
,196,952.44 
,552.206.98 
,310,076.25 
,068,264.57 
,861,732.69 
,560,899.09 
.473,196.75 
,135,048.86 
,988,729.05 
,892,920.75 
.737,760.65 
,465,687.99 
,002,693.04 
,689,520.47 
,600,343 66 
,190,923.34 
,133,589.45 
,095,945.12 
888,786.37 
818,196.35 
793,381.02 
266,216..-)9 
166,629.31 



92 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



It is universally conceded by experts that the 
St. Louis banks keep themselves in an excep- 
tionally solid position. The statement on the 
preceding page was prepared during the financial 
depression, and shows tlie institutions at their 
worst, instead of their best. Yet, the available 
funds for the surplus reserve averaged forty to 
forty-four per cent, as compared with less than 
twenty-five per cent in New York, and similar 
percentages elsewhere. The number of banks 
in St. Louis does not increase rapidly, but it is 
observed that those already in operation increase 
their facilities for doing business steadily, and 
one after the other they secure more handsome, 
commodious premises for the transaction of their 
business. Some of the most desirable corners 
in the city are now occupied by banks, and dur- 
ing the last few months several important 
changes of location have taken place. 

In addition to banks proper, St. Louis has 
three very large trust companies, which are 
transacting a banking business of great impor- 
tance, as well as acting as trustees and execu- 
tors and filling in many other ways a want long 
felt in financial circles. These institutions do 
not at present make use of the Clearing House 
directly in their transactions, and hence the 
business of that institution is not increased to 
the extent that the business done would appear 
to indicate. This last-named institution was 
oro-anized in 18()8, and has continued without 
interruption since. The first president was 
Mr. W. E. Burr, president of the St. Louis Na- 
tional Bank, who was succeeded in 1873 by 
Mr. Charles Parsons. In the same year Mr. 
Edward Chase became manager, and for the 
last twenty years he has conducted the vast 
transactions of the Clearing House Association 
with marked ability. In 1875 an amendment 
was made to the constitution making the mini- 
mum capital of meml)ers S 150,000, a conserva- 
tive policy which is still maintained. 

As already mentioned, the returns of the St. 
Louis Clearing House do not adequately repre- 
sent the financial transactions of the city. This 
is largely because of the comparative diminutive 
amount of speculation and dealing in options 



in St. Louis as compared with other more reck- 
less centers. Tliere is als.o an absence of any 
attemiJt here to make the figures better than 
they really are. Thus, in some centers checks 
are issued with the endorsement that they are 
pavable only through the clearing house, and 
hence all purely local transactions become added 
to the total. Also, in St. Louis it is the almost 
invariable practice to pay wages in cash and 
not by means of checks, as is a common prac- 
tice in many industrial centers. In addition to 
this, it is the practice of the St. Louis banks to 
pay their daily balances to each other in cur- 
rency. In many cities the certificate given by 
the Clearing House to banks, showing the 
amount coming to them on the balances from 
otlier banks, are treated as checks and cleared 
the following day, so that the amount of the 
balances of one day is added to the total clear- 
ings of the next. It is really a question of 
arithmetic and book-keeping only, but the sub- 
ject is worthy of mention, because it is impor- 
tant St. Louis people should realize that every 
dollar returned as being cleared represents that 
amount of actual business. 

In spite of this strictly conservative policy, 
the bank clearings of New St. Louis have 
steadily increased. They averaged considerably 
less than $60,000,000 a month when the change 
from the old to the new took place. In 18<S() 
they averaged a little less than $70,000,000 a 
month, from which year they gradually increased 
until the year 1892, when they averaged atrifle 
over $100,000,000 per month. The year 18!t3 
opened up most auspiciously in the matter of 
banking business. December, 1892, had broken 
the record in the bank clearings, with a gain of 
$7,000,000 over the preceding year; the re- 
turns for the first month of the new year were 
$l(i,000,000 larger than the preceding January, 
and the returns for the first quarter were very 
largelv in excess of the corresponding period of 
anv preceding year, being more than forty-five 
per cent greater than 1886. 

The table on page 93 shows the bank clear- 
ings for the current year, and for the seven pre- 
ceding years. 



FINANCE AND BANKING. 
BAXK CLEARANCES. 



93 



MONTH. 


1886. 


1887. 


1888. 


18S9. 


1890. 


1891. 


1892. 


1893. 


January .-- 

February 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September -- 
October 


1 65,215,966 
56,865,185 
62,407,170 
63,523,300 
70,800,052 
62,760,710 
74,369,918 
70,449,412 
71,543,696 
69,822,165 
68,375,951 
74,660,537 


% 71. 441, .522 
64.016,573 
75,8:20,9.34 
73,773,478 
79,768,575 
75,821,594 
74,227,069 
77,007.1.33 
74,537,207 
74,8.55,029 
72,757,656 
80,500,961 


% 73,489,445 
73,682,245 
75,136.605 
72,004,850 
73.797,059 
69,957,876 
67,134,909 
75,230,076 
78,265,4,S4 
83,430,317 
72,291,801 
86,054,204 


« 84,199,804 
72,500,9.89 
79,774,733 
71,892,175 
83,738,646 
83,333,370 
82,207,885 
81,869,6.57 
80,511,10.5 
95,6,3l',6S1 
84,020,747 
87,8-10,838 

$987,522,629 


« 94,715,140 
83,143,841 
87,236,790 
93,455,536 
100,925,642 
92,250,636 
92,940,902 
88,342,008 
93,532,926 
99,714,641 
94,534,031 
97,781,118 


5 97,620,745 
82,018,043 
89,648,649 
89,499,582 
90,605,844 
87,120,315 
95,688,688 
97,504,202 
97,411,603 

104,433,739 
97,808,462 

110,239,721 


$ 98,855,240 

97,370,011 

99,186,662 

103,381,629 

94,098,641 

99,575,498 

100,027,298 

105,289,130 

101,702,686 

106, 99'.), ,568 

108,090,990 

117,662,598 


$ 114,721,817 

93,519,692 

108,371,973 

107,761,079 

109,151,296 

95,321,231 

82,596,431 

68.744,079 

75,437,705 

86.4.39,6.52 

96,174,462 


November 

December 




$810,759,062 


$894,527,731 


$900,474,878 


$1,118,573,210 


$1,139,599,573 


$1,231,571,963 





A most gratifj'ing event of the last four or five 
years is the increased standing of St. Louis as 
a money center. The stability of rates in vSt. 
L,onis has attracted general attention. Manu- 
factnring establishments in search of locations 
have been largely induced to locate here because 
of the certainty of obtaining accommodations 
when required. More than that, the city's loan- 
ing business has extended over a much larger 
territory' . Boston has for years advanced money 
for enterprises throughout the entire country, and 
St. Louis recognizes with gratitude the assistance 
the great New England town has rendered many 
of its valuable enterprises. Now St. Louis is in 
the habit of accommodating not only western 
and southwestern cities, but also many of the 
large eastern cities to which we used to look in 
years gone by. During the year 1892 this busi- 
ness gained very rapidly. During the prepara- 
tions for the World's Fair a very large amount of 
money was taken out of St. Louis for the pur- 
pose, and more recently loans of large amounts 
have gone to Denver, Kansas City, Dallas, Gal- 
veston and other western and southern centers. 

As a very powerful lever in raising New St. 
Louis to its present position socially, commer- 
cially and financially, the building and loan 
associations deserve special notice. Philadel- 
phia used to claim a monopoly of the distinction 
of being a city of homes. New St. Louis com- 
petes with it for a right to the name, and it 
is probable that the percentage of inhabitants 
owning their own homes is now fully as large 



in the metropolis of the West and Southwest as 
in the City of Brotherly Love. It was the build- 
ing associations that helped thousands of Phila- 
delphians to become home-owners, and it is the 
same agency that has reduced the ranks of the 
renters and increased the number of owners in 
this favored city. It is unnecessary to devote 
space to the origin of building as.sociations in 
St. Louis. Some that were established during 
the last years of Old St. Louis have recently ac- 
complished their purpose, furnished a home to 
each member who persevered in his effort to ob- 
tain one, and more than kept faith with their 
original members. It was not, however, until 
New St. Louis had been thoroughly established, 
and the new order of things had become gener- 
ally accepted, that the number of building asso- 
ciations became large enough to exert any very 
important influence ujDon the growth and devel- 
opment of the city. During the years 188fi, 
l'S87 and 1888, associations were started in large 
numbers, and a great majority of them have done 
magnificent work, both for their members and 
for the city. Some of the more recent ones 
foriued have fallen into the error of promising 
rather more than they can po.ssibly fulfill, but 
they have, by the reduction of their charges, 
made home-bu^'ing exceedingly easy, and to 
their influence may be attributed the transfor- 
mation of several districts within the city limits 
and out in the country to settlements of com- 
fortable homes and substantial, if not costly, 
houses. 



94 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS. 

ONE HUNDRED MILES OF STREET FRONTAGE BUILT UPON IN THREE YEARS.-HISTORY OF 

THE FIRE-PROOF OFFICE-BUILDING ERA— INVESTMENTS IN IMPROVEMENTS 

AND THEIR INFLUENCE UPON VALUES. 




ENTION HAS already been made of 
the influence of rapid transit and of 
building associations in increasing 
tlie area of the residence sections of 
St. Louis, and although it is proba- 
ble that the street railroads are en- 
titled to the bulk of the credit, it is certain that 
the expansion of the city's financial institutions 
and the general work of the building associa- 
tions have given to the building industry an im- 
petus during the last five or six years which has 
been much too general and far-reaching in its 
character and operation to be described as a 
"boom." The year 1892 was the banner 5'ear of 
St. Louis' building, for during it the enormous 
sum of -S 20, 000, 000 was expended on buildings 
actually completed, to say nothing of those in 
course of construction on January 1, 1893. The 
total number of building permits issued during 
the year was 5,497, and as evidence of the char- 
acter of the improvements it may be mentioned 
that only twenty per cent of the permits were 
for frame buildings. The nominal value of the 
improvements, as shown by the building com- 
missioner's book, was about $17,000,000, but 
this is no criterion of actual value because of the 
invariable undervaluation. In St. Louis the cost 
of a permit to build is calculated upon a percent- 
age of the alleged value of the proposed building, 
and the habit of underestimating is a natural 
result of this rather inconsistent rule. It is 
probable that the sale-price of the buildings 
authorized to be erected during 1892 was 



§25,000,000, so that the estimate of 120,000,000 
actually expended on completed structures is 
quite a reasonable one. The lot frontage covered 
by new buildings in 1892'was 201,440 feet, 
equivalent to a single row of buildings thirty- 
nine miles long. This means that thirty-nine 
miles of street frontage was actually built upon, 
and the effect of the change on the aspect of the 
city can easily be appreciated even by those who 
have not been fortunate enough to go over the 
ground for themselves. The lot frontage covered 
in 1891 was thirty miles, and that of 1890 was 
nearly as great, so that during the three seasons 
the mileage of built-up streets in St. Louis was 
increased nearly 100 miles, an achievement of 
which the city is naturally proud and which it 
will be hard for any other city to duplicate. 

To grasp the real import of these astound- 
ing totals, it should be remembered that' the 
aggregate value of the buildings authorized to 
be erected in 1.S78 was $2,432,5(i8, and even in 
1882 the total was only $6,163,545. After 
this the influence of improved streets, rapid 
transit, building associations, and New St. Louis 
ideas generally began to be more apparent, and 
in 1889 the aggregate values mentioned in the 
building permits ran into eight figures. Since 
that time the increase has been very rapid, the 
total being nearly $14,000,000 in 1891, nearly 
$17,000,000 in ls;i2, and close upon $9,000,000 
for the first six months of 1893. The values 
given as rough — and it may be added parenthet- 
ically, carefully undercalculated — estimates by 



BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS. 



95 



the projectors of new buildings on applying for 
permits during the actual life of New St. Louis 
exceed in the aggregate $120,000,000, and it is 
believed by competent valuers that the buildings 
erected under these permits have cost at least 
$200,000,000. Little wonder, under these cir- 
cumstances, that the appearance of New St. Louis 
of 1893 is entirely different from that of Old 
St, Louis in 1883. 

Many old buildings of 
RAPID INCREASE . , , , , f 

considerable value nave 
IN VALUE OF , J ^ 1 

been removed to make 

TAXABLE PROPERTY. r i 

room for new ones, and 

hence the increase in the assessed valuation is 
not quite so large. But since 1878 the total has 
about doubled. The 1894 valuation will cer- 
tainly exceed $300,000,000, as compared with 
$24r),000,000 iu 1890, and §l(i5,000,000 in 1880. 
The city comptroller estimated the value of the 
city's real estate in 1890 at $141,000,000 more 
than the assessed valuation, and the estimate 
was a conservative one. Upon this basis the 
value of the real estate in the city is now nearly, 
if not quite, $400,000,000, while it is doubtful if 
that sum would purchase nearly all the realty in 
St. Louis. These figures are too large to be easily 
grasped, but they show as no argument could 
demonstrate, how stupendous has been the city's 
building growth since its second birth. 

Reverting to the character of buildings, it 
may be mentioned that the number of new 
structures erected in 1890, 1891 and 1892 was 
about 14,500, of which only 4,000 were frame. 
The percentage of frame houses to brick has 
been gradually decreasing. In the eighties 
about one-third of the new buildings were con- 
structed of lumber, as compared with little more 
than a fifth at the present time. 

The immense number of buildings constructed 
since the census was taken is of special interest 
as bearing upon the question of population, and 
justifies the claim made by directory publishers 
and canvassers, that the number of inhabitants 
has increased much more rapidly during the last 
three years than during any corresponding 
period of time in the history of St. Louis. Be- 
sides the activitv in the erection of new build- 



ings, great enterprise has been shown in the 
improvement and enlarging of existing struct- 
ures. The real estate sales for the year 1892 
reached, as shown in the records, a total of 
$(;2,000,000, or a great deal more than 
$1,000,000 a week. Upwards of 40,000 deeds 
were filed at the ofifice of the recorder of deeds 
during the year, and nearly 8,000 deeds of trust 
were released. During the same j-ear 120,000 
feet of land was subdivided, but the subdivision 
did not keep pace with the building, and as a 
result there were seven miles less of unbuilt-up 
streets at the end of the year than at the com- 
mencement. Acre property within the city 
limits is getting very scarce, and the demand 
for residence property has grown so rapidly that 
values do not compare at all with those of a few 
years ago. The extreme western district is now 
very largely built up, and the price at which 
lots are held is restricting improvements to those 
of a very costly character. In the extreme 
northwest, the extension of the Benton-Bellefon- 
taiue road and its equipment of electricity, to- 
gether with the construction of the Belt Railroad 
has caused an awakening, and the sales iu this 
section have been very large in consequence. A 
number of New St. Louis men have made their 
homes in the extreme south of the city, where 
building has been carried on with great activity 
and where the vacant lots are becoming more 
and more scarce. 

Another characteristic of the new buildings, 
in addition to the more general use of brick and 
stone, is the improved architectural excellence 
and the increased value generally. In the resi- 
dence portions of the city, which were more 
especially referred to in the opening remarks 
of this chapter, the change is remarkable. 
About eighteen mouths ago a large delegation 
from the National Press Association was enter- 
tained in St. Louis, and the visitors were driven 
over the city in carriages placed at their dis- 
posal. They were not asked their opinions as 
to the city, but voluntarily expressed them; and 
the sentiment was unanimous that in no part of 
the world were so large a uuml)er of architect- 
ural styles represented as in St. Louis. Coming 



96 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



BIRTH OF THE 
LOFTY OFFICE-BUILDING ERA 



from men and women who have traveled from 
Maine to California, and many of them from 
New York to London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna 
and Florence, an expression of opinion of this 
kind natnralh' has weight; and when one of the 
most inveterate Bohemians in the crowd said 
that there was more home-pride in St. Lonis 
than in any other city he had visited, the senti- 
ment was warmly applanded by his companions 
and api^reciated by his hearers. The greatest 
ambition of a successfnl St. Lonis mannfactnrer, 
merchant or professional man seems to be to 
bnild for himself a palatial home and to snr- 
round it with all the luxnr^' and beanty which 
money can procnre. 

"Ground costs 
money and air 
does not," re- 
marked Jay Gould on one occasion when dis- 
cussing the ntimber of stories of which buildings 
should be composed. Old St. Louis did not 
appreciate the importance of this fact, and the 
buildings in the cit}- were seldom more than six 
stories high, and very frequently only four or 
five. New St. Louis, on the other hand, has 
made high buildings a specialty, and although 
sky-scrapers twenty stories high have not found 
favor here, the most popular ofhce-buildings are 
those which vary in height from ten to fourteen 
stories. Both ty^DCS of St. Louis are still repre- 
sented in its commercial and jirofessional build- 
ings. In the extreme eastern section of the 
business quarter, where at one time all the im- 
jjortant transactions of the " Future Great " were 
planned and carried out, there are still to be 
found a number of substantial buildings four or 
six stories high with few, if any, modern con- 
veniences, with slow elevator service and with 
a minimum of light. Many of these buildings 
are still in good order, and hence the old-st}"le 
office-building dies hard, although the competi- 
tion of the new type of building is felt very 
keenly. 

Ten years ago this old-style ofhce-building 
was regarded as the correct thing, although in 
other cities the theory which Jay Gould subse- 
quently expressed so concisely had been ap- 



preciated and the air was being encroached upon 
with considerable rapidity. Now, however, 
New St. Louis is represented by more than 
twenty office-buildings of absolutely the first 
class, and these are not surpassed in any other 
city, although, as already mentioned, extremes 
of height such as are found in Chicago or New 
York have not been attempted here. In addi- 
tion to the score of buildings specially deserving 
mention as types of the New St. Louis idea, 
there are others of recent construction almost as 
magnificent and embracing every improvement 
calculated to increase the capacity of the struct- 
ures and the convenience of the tenants. An 
excellent municipal ordinance forbids the erec- 
tion of a building in St. Louis more than 100 
feet in height unless its interior construction is 
absolutely fire-proof. Hence the new office-build- 
ings are in no sense of the word fire-traps, but 
are rather to be looked upon as safer than the 
small buildings they have superseded, which 
had but indifferent means of egress in case of 
fire, and whose material was more or less com- 
bustible — and generally more. 

The era of the fire-proof office-building in 
St. Louis dates back to about the year 1S85, 
when the Equitable Building on Sixth and Lo- 
cust streets was enlarged and heightened. This 
fine structure was originally six stories high. It 
was the pioneer of modern office-buildings in 
St. Louis, and was regar<led by every one who 
saw it as a distinct advance on anything yet at- 
tempted in the Mississippi Valley. Being abso- 
lutely fire-proof and exceptionally well arranged, 
there was quite a run on its offices, and instead 
of tenants being sought, the only difficulty the 
management had to contend with was filling the 
demands of applicants. It was decided to have 
the foundation and walls carefully examined and 
to increase the height from six to ten stories if 
the plan were endorsed by competent engineers. 
The examination proved that the structure was 
strong enough to bear the weight of six addi- 
tional stories easily, but the original plan was 
carried out, and the Equitable Building raised its 
head ten stories high, a monument to the enter- 
prise of its owners and to the determination of 



BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS. 



97 



New St. Louis to have the best of everything 
that science had perfected. To-day the Equi- 
table Building does not rank among the very 
highest St. L,ouis buildings, but in 1S85 and 188(5 
it was looked ujdou with as much admiration as 
the Union Trust Building is now. 

The Laclede Building is generally regarded 
as the pioneer of the lofty fire-proof buildings of 
St. Louis. There were a great many projects 
about the year 1885 looking to the erection of 
buildings of this character, but the first scheme 
of magnitude involved the erection of a ten-story 
building, to be known as the Union Building, 
on the southwest corner of Olive and Fourth 
streets. In the winter of 1885 and 188(3 the old 
improvements of this corner were torn down, 
and it was announced that a large body of Chi- 
cago capitalists were behind the scheme, and 
were about to erect a building of gigantic pro- 
portions. Fairy tales concerning the proportions 
and decorations of the new building abounded, 
but local suspicion was aroused when the exca- 
vations were left untouched week after week, 
and the final announcement that the wealth of 
the capitalists had not materialized, caused 
more regret than surprise. The unrealized hope 
was not only an eye-sore, but also a source of 
ridicule, and a number of St. Louis capitalists, 
who did not boast of fabulous wealth but who 
had a reputation for completing every project 
with which they connected themselves, took 
hold of the enterprise and erected the Laclede 
Building. The Laclede Building is not the pal- 
ace covered by the plans of the Union Building, 
but is a first-class office structure, fire-proof 
throughout, and constructed of Missouri granite, 
iron and brick. The hall walls are of polished 
Berdillo marble and plate glass, and the halls 
and ceilings are of marble. The building was 
watched with great interest while in course of 
construction, and when it was finished its ele- 
vator capacity, arrangements for ventilation and 
for the transaction of business, as well as the 
completeness of its furnishings, not only excited 
the admiration of St. Louis people generally, but 
encouraged the perfecting of projects for a 
number of similar and even superior buildings. 



EARLY WORK ON 
FIRE-PROOF STRUCTURES. 



At about the 
same time the 
Commercial Build- 
ing was designed. In the early days of New 
St. Louis the southeast corner of Sixth and 
Olive streets was encumbered by improvements 
of a very inferior character, many years behind 
the times. A syndicate was formed and a lease 
negotiated for ninety-nine years, at $20,000 a 
year, with a clause that a building to cost not 
less than $200,000 should be erected on the site 
within the space of three years. As a result of 
this undertaking, the Commercial Building was 
designed and completed, the cost of construc- 
tion being about three times the minimum stated 
in the lease. 

The Commercial Building has since been out- 
classed in height, but it is still looked upon 
as one of the most substantial and convenient 
office-buildings in the West. Missouri granite 
and St. Louis pressed brick, two of the best 
building materials to be found in the world, 
were used in the exterior construction, with the 
columns, pilasters and lintels of iron. The 
building is absolutely fire-proof, and has 192 
office-rooms. Georgia marble was used largely 
in the corridors and wainscoting, and a perfect 
system of elevators, four in number, was put in. 
Like the Equitable and Laclede, the Commer- 
cial Building was in its early days visited by 
hundreds of spectators, and e\'en now our best 
office-buildings are regarded as an attraction by 
sojourners in other cities. 

It is not suggested that the three buildings 
first mentioned were actually the th.ree first to be 
completed and occupied, the order being rather 
that of the negotiations which resulted in the 
inauguration of a rule which has changed the 
aspect of down-town St. Louis and attracted 
the admiration of all. Olive street, in the neigh- 
borhood of the Federal Building, was largely 
reconstructed during the days of the fire-proof 
office-building awakening. Work was com- 
menced on the Odd Fellows' Building, at the 
corner of Ninth and Olive streets, very early in 
the revival. The building is almost faultless in 
its construction, and the summit of its tower 



98 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



is 236 feet high. Missouri granite, both rock- 
faced and polished, was used in the construction 
of the first story, and the seven stories above 
are of St. Louis pressed brick. Iron and steel 
pillars and girders were freely used, and the en- 
tire work is exceptionally massive and last- 
ing. The foundations are so strong that they 
would probably hold a building nearly twice as 
high as the one now upon them. The corridors 
are tiled with white marble, and the wainscot- 
ing is of the best Georgia gray and white mar- 
ble. The building, which cost over $iJ00,O()O, 
was completed in the spring of 1889. A por- 
tion of it is occupied by the Qdd Fellows' halls, 
offices and library, but the offices available for 
the public are occupied by professional and 
business men, and are replete with every con- 
venience. 

Adjoining the Odd Fellows' Building, and 
erected almost simultaneously with it is the 
Fagin Building, unique in its features and a 
structure which has been both praised and criti- 
cised by experts. It is xiulike any other office- 
building in the city, and the front is constructed 
almost entirely of granite aud glass. It is ten 
stories high, and the available space in the in- 
terior is 1,0.')2,000 square feet. The building, 
despite some early criticisms, is strong and at- 
tractive. Its plan involves an abundance of 
light, and, although its entrance is not as at- 
tractive and handsome as a building of such 
altitude and cost would seem to demand, it is a 
grand building and has undoubtedly had its in- 
fluence in a most important direction on the 
office-building work of St. Louis. 

On Eighth street, also opposite the Federal 
Building and almost at the corner of Olive, is 
the Turner Building, which, it is claimed, was 
the first building erected in St. Louis fire-proof 
in every part. It is less lofty than some of its 
neighbors, but is a very handsome, substantial 
structure, with every possible convenience for 
its tenants. 

The American Central Building, on Broadway 
and Locust street, was reconstructed during the 
same period, and the Bank of Commerce Building 
and a large number of factories and what may 



THE 
HIGHEST OF THEM ALL 



be termed individual business establishments 
were also erected. The year l-SSi) found the 
office-building question practically settled and 
down-town St. Louis ecjuipped with structures 
and offices handsome enough to do credit to any 
city and apparently numerous enough to meet 
every demand. It was even suggested that the 
work had been overdone and that there would 
be a difficulty in renting the offices in the new 
buildings. Looked at from the standpoint of 
St. Louis in 1893 the forecast appears ludi- 
crous, for during the last three or four years the 
activity of the fire-proof-lofty-structure-buikler 
has more than redoubled, and on every side 
there are to be seen grand edifices not then so 
much as contemplated. 

The highest of these 
most recent office-build- 
ings is the Union Trust 
Building, at the corner of Seventh and Olive 
streets. This building, which is now practically 
completed, is fourteen stories high, or, if the 
plan of counting basement and attic, common 
in some cities, is adopted, there are really six- 
teen stories. The building occupied about a 
year aud a half in construction, including the 
time devoted to tearing down the old improve- 
ments and in digging out the foundations. Aluch 
longer time would ha\-e been required but for 
the adoption of what is known as the steel skele- 
ton system of construction. Without this aid to 
building, the walls and doors in the lower stories 
would have had to be exceptionally thick 'and 
massive to hold the weight, but the plan adopted 
obviated this difficulty aud added immensely to 
the floor-space of the building. Pillars of rolled 
steel and iron are extended from the foundation 
to the roof, and these are all sufficiently strong, 
not only to hold the enormous weight resting 
upon them, but also to stand the strain of high 
winds and tempestuous v/eather. The floor- 
beams and girders are also of rolled steel riveted 
to the uprights, and the whole budding is thus 
one united mass, the strain being divided over 
an immense area. The precautions taken in 
the design to secure rigidity have proven en- 
tirely successful, aud the building is now as 



BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS. 



99 



solid and substantial as though it stood but two 
stories high. 

The building is fire-proof in fact as well as in 
name. Hollow fire clay tile was used largely in 
the construction, and the stair-cases and even 
the elevator guide-posts are of incombustible 
material, so that in the event of fire nothing but 
desks, chairs, window-frames and doors w^ould 
burn. The building has a frontage of 128 feet on 
Olive street and 84 feet on Seventh street, with 
the advantage of a wide alley, which practically 
gives it three fronts. The internal court, front- 
ing southward on Olive street, adds to the front- 
age so much that, although there are 300 offices 
in the building, the windows of each one opens 
direct into the air, if not sunlight. Two hun- 
dred and forty offices face the streets, and these 
are being rapidly occupied by tenants. The 
external construction is of buff terra cotta for 
the two lowest stories, buff brick to the thir- 
teenth and terra cotta at the summit. The ap- 
pearance is unique and somewhat peculiar, and 
the material used is of a character to withstand 
the attacks of smoke and dust and retain its 
color almost indefinitely. Two thousand tons 
of iron have been used in the construction, and 
there are more than seven miles of steam, water 
and escape pipes in the building. Three miles 
of electric wire were also used in the equip- 
ments, and about 25,000 square feet of marble 
and mosaic were required. The halls and cor- 
ridors are richly decorated with marble, and the 
windows are of polished plate glass. The ele- 
vator service is exceptionally good, and in every 
office there is a hot and cold water supply serv- 
ice. A million dollars has been mentioned as 
the probable price of this lofty and remarkable 
structure, but, although a detailed statement 
has not been published, there can be no doubt 
that the outlay has been very largely in excess 
of the sum named. 

The Security Building, 
on the southwest corner of 
Fourth and Locust streets, 
while not so lofty as the 
Union Trust, is probably the most magnificent 
fire-proof structure in the West. It is ten 



SECURITY BUILDING 

AND 

NOONDAY CLUB. 



stories high,* and its roof 15() feet inches 
above the sidewalk. In its construction only 
the most costly materials were used, and the 
building cost considerably in excess of $1,000,- 
0(10. The internal decorations are on a par 
with the magnificent outside work, and the 
building has a substantial, valuable appearance 
which excites comment from every visitor. The 
entrance to the elevators, from a most attractive 
and unusually convenient rotunda, is artistic in 
the extreme; and the mosaic floors are aesthetic 
enough for an art museum or a picture gallery. 
The offices are replete with every possible con- 
venience, and are as elegant as money could 
possibly make them. The tenth floor is occu- 
pied entirely by the reception and dining-rooms 
of the Noonday Club, one of the latest additions 
to the commercial clubs of St. Louis. It was 
established in 1893, with 300 members, consist- 
ing of presidents and leading members of some 
of the largest and most wealthy firms of the 
city. 

The Security Building fronts on Locust street, 
with two wings extending south, one on the east, 
and one on the west side. The club rooms 
are thus divided into three divisions. The 
central portion contains the restaurant, which 
on special occasions is converted into a banquet- 
ing hall. This room is finished in light colors, 
verging to a very pale brown and cream white. 
The west wing contains a regular lunch-room, 
with the kitchens overhead, in what may be 
described as the attic addition to the building. 
Tlie lunch-room is finished in harmonious colors, 
and has windows on three sides. The billiard 
hall is equally well provided with light. The 
floors have been varnished into a glossy cherry 
color, and the walls are painted a deep wine- 
red, the ceiling being pale green. The appoint- 
ments of the club, generally, are thoroughl}- 
in keeping with the design of the organization, 
and with the general elegance and excellence of 
the building in which it is situated. 



*Only complete and full-sized floors are counted. The 
Security Buildiug has also a basemeut and an attic, and 
hence might be spoken of as a twelve-storv buildiug. It 
is alwaj's the rule iu St. L,ouis to uuderstate, rather thau 
exaggerate. 



100 



OLD AND NFAV ST. LOUIS. 



TWENTY-StX BVILDINOS 

COSTING MORE 

THAN $500,000 EACH. 



Mention has alreach- 
been made of the three 
exceptionally magnifi- 



cent new strnctnres of 
St. Lonis — the Union Depot, the City Hall and 
the New Planters' Honse. In this chapter a 
few representative bnildings of the New St. 
Ivouis t}pe have been selected. It has not been 
attempted to refer to every large building con- 
structed during the last five or six years, because 
even a brief description of these would occupy 
the space allotted to several chapters. Only 
those who have given the question careful atten- 
tion realize the stupendous nature of the work the 
local builder and contractor has done. It is im- 
portant to bear in mind that early in the present 
year there were actually in course of construc- 
tion more than twenty-six buildings, each aver- 
aging in cost more than §.'>()(), ()()(). These 
included an immense number of new factories 
to take the place, in some instances, of build- 
ings which had ceased to be available for the 
purposes desired, and also to provide accommo- 
dation for increased business and new firms. 
Prior to this date there had been erected, in ad- 
dition to those already mentioned, such magnifi- 
cent structures as the Bell Telephone Building, 
in which the Builders' Exchange has its head- 
quarters; the new Globe-Democrat Building, 
and the Roe, Houser and Oriel buildings. The 
twentv-six buildings referred to as being either 
in course of construction or having contracts 
completed at the commencement of iy!l3 were 
as follows, the prices given being those named 
in the building permits, which, it will be seen, 
aggregate about $14,000,000: 

New Planters' House, twelve stories. Fourth 
street, between Pine and Chestnut streets, 
11,000,000; the Colonnade, ten stories, com- 
prising a hotel, theatre and arcade, an ofiice- 
building and a Turkish bath estal^lishment, to 
occupy a half block on Ninth street, between 
Olive and Locust streets, $1,100,000; a hotel, 
not yet named, ten stories, on Ninth street, cor- 
ner of Pine street, $500,000; Imperial Hotel, 
ten stories, corner of JMarket and Eighteenth 
Streets, $1,200,000; City Hall, in old Wash- 



ington Park, fronting on Market, between 
Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, $2,000,000; new 
Union Depot, IMarket street, south side, between 
Eighteenth and Twentieth streets, $1,000,000;* 
Hammett- Anderson-Wade's Columbia Building, 
southeast corner of Eighth and Locust streets, 
$300,000; Mills & Averill's building, on Chest- 
nut street, twelve stories, $()00,00(_); Patterson 
Building, southeast corner of Olive and Twelfth 
streets, ten stories, $250,000; Fair Building, 
southwest corner of Seventh and Franklin ave- 
nue, $150,000; Nelson Building, south side of 
vSt. Charles, east of Twelfth, eight stories, 
$100,000; Hoyle Building, southwest corner of 
Third and Locust streets, $75,000; McCormack 
Building, north side of Chestnut, between 
Eighth and Ninth streets, $75,000; Interstate 
Investment Co.'s Building, southeast corner of 
Ninth and Washington avenue, $100,000; Ben- 
oist Building, southeast corner of Eleventh and 
Olive streets, $75,000; F. A. Drew Building, 
southeast corner of Twelfth and St. Charles 
streets, $125,000; Culver Building, southeast 
corner of Twelfth and Locust streets, $90,000; 
new Board of Education Building, northwest 
corner of Locust and Ninth streets, $400,000; 
Rialto Building, ten stories, southeast corner of 
Fourth and Olive streets, $500,000; Security 
Building, ten stories. Fourth and Locust streets, 
$1,500,000; Wainwright Building, nine stories, 
northwest corner of Se\-enth and Chestnut 
streets, $(;00,000; Union Trust Company Build- 
ing, fourteen stories, northwest corner of Sev- 
enth and Olive streets, $1,000,000; Puritan 
Building, north side of Locust, between Sev- 
enth and Eighth streets, nine stories, $150,000; 
Meyer Building, southeast corner of W'ashing- 
ton avenue and Eighth street, §100,000; new 
]\Iercantile Club Building, southeast corner of 
Locust and Seventh streets, $500,000; Famous 
Building, west side of Broadway, between 
Franklin avenue and ^Morgan street, $400,000. 



*A comparison of tlie permit price of this structure 
with the actual expeuditure, as outlined on page (57, shows 
better than any argument in words how inadecjuateh- the 
building permit returns set forth the actual building ex- 
penditure. 



B UILDING IMPRO I 'EMENTS. 



101 



LIBRARY AND 
SCHOOL BUILDING. 



The Mercantile Library 
Building; was completed too 
soon to be included in this 
list. It is a fire-proof structure, on the corner 
of Broadway and Locust street, with the upper 
floors devoted to the library. Its reading-room 
is one of the largest and best equipped in the 
country, and it is a great ad\-ance on the old 
structure which made the library famous in for- 
mer years. The Public Library Building, or, 
more correctl)' speaking, the Board of Education 
Building, four blocks west of this, is another 
lofty and valuable building, as different from 
the old Polytechnic, in which the Public School 
Library was situated, as New St. Louis dif- 
fers from Old. Among the strictly 1893 build- 
ings not already described, but which must be 
mentioned as remarkable evidences of the build- 
ing activity of New St. Louis, is the new High 
School on Grand avenue. This building has a 
front facade 300 feet in length and 147 feet 
deep. Brick, ornamented with red sandstone, 
forms the outer walls, the front and two towers 
being faced with stone up to the second floor. 
There is an interior court 4r)xl30 feet for light 
and ventilation, and the building contains, in 
addition to an immense number of class and 
study-rooms, an assemlily-rooni about eighty 
feet square. Another is the new Mercantile 
Club Building, to which reference has already 
been made. This building has been erected on 
the site of the old club house and of Mr. Henry 
Shaw's mansion, at the corner of Seventh and 
Locust streets. It has a frontage of 127 feet on 
Locust street, and 90 feet on Seventh street. 
It is six stories high, and is constructed of Lake 
Superior red sandstone, resting on a granite 
base. The upper floors are of red brick, with 
sandstone trimmings. The design includes lofty 
balconies, and a gabled Spanish roof, giving the 
building a unique effect, very pleasing to the 
eye, as compared with the flat roof so universal 
in the modern lofty structures. 

A block west of this club, the St. Nicholas 
Hotel is in course of construction and will soon 
be ready for occupation. This is another build- 
ing in which the style of architecture differs 



materially from that in general use, and its 
appearance is sufirciently handsome and even 
antique to give quite a name and reputation 
to both Locust and Eighth streets. The esti- 
mated cost of the building is about $300,000. 
It is eight stories high with a balcony and a 
slanting red tiled roof with curved brick gables. 
These gables are already a source of admiration 
and by the time the finishing strokes have been 
put to the work the building will certainly be 
an ornament to the city. Among the peculiari- 
ties of the internal structure may be mentioned 
the ball-room, which is to occupy the upper- 
most floor. This will be one of the most gor- 
geous ball-rooms in the country, and is likely to 
be used very largely for entertainments of a 
public and semi-private character. 

No reference to the buildings of 1893 can be 
complete without something more than a pass- 
ing mention of the Rialto Building on the south- 
east corner of Fourth and Olive streets, a 
thoroughfare which in years gone by was the 
center of commerce of the city, but which in 
the early days of New St. Louis was rather out- 
classed by streets slightly more western. The 
new hotel, the Security and Laclede buildings 
and the Rialto are only four evidences of the 
determination of property owners to restore the 
street to its former commercial precedence and 
grandeur. The Rialto Building is ten stories 
high and is constructed of steel and iron, encased 
in massive blocks of granite and red sandstone. 
It fronts ninety feet on Fourth street and rather 
less on Olive street, and its cost was consid- 
erably in excess of $.300,000. The external 
appearance is rendered attractive by the archi- 
tectural device to increase the light and capacity 
of the offices, and the internal arrangements are 
complete in the extreme, the elevator plan being 
remarkable for its simplicity and good service. 
Adjoining, and in the shadow of this building, is 
the Bank of the Republic structure. This bank 
was established on Ninth and Olive streets, 
where it has built up a large and lucrative con- 
nection. It has, however, decided to move on 
Fourth street, and has erected a building one 
story high and remarkably attractive in its ap- 



102 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



IN THE 

WHOLESALE SECTION 

OF THE CITY. 



pearance. The front is of Italian marble ex- 
quisitely carved in draped figures, and the entire 
roof is of heavy glass. Instead of erecting 
a high building and renting the upper offices, 
the bank preferred the more costly plan of a 
one-story building devoted entire!)' to its own 
use. The structure is thirty-five feet high, and 
each foot cost about $1,000 to construct. 

Among the buildings 
costing upwards of 
$500,000 and erected in 
18!I3, was the Martin 
Building, on Tenth street, between Washington 
and Christy avenues. This is right in the 
center of what may be termed the wholesale 
district of St. Louis, and the building is designed 
exclusively for wholesale purposes. It occujiies 
a space of 70x205 feet, and is eight stories high. 
The two first stories are in blue Bedford stone, 
the remainder being in light colored Roman 
brick with terra cotta trimmings. There is a 
court in the center entered through an arched 
gateway on Tenth street. The Collier Block is 
on Washington avenue. Fourth, and St. Charles 
streets, and when completed will occupy an en- 
tire half block, with side frontages of 150 feet on 
both Washington avenue and St. Charles street. 
The main floors are of iron columns filled in with 
plate glass, and the upper floors are of dark gray 
brick with terra cotta trimmings, surmounted 
above the sixth floor by a Florentine cornice. 

The Columbian Club House and the new 
Good Shepherd Convent, although not strictly 
commercial structures, were in course of erec- 
tion during 18113 at a total cost approximating 
$750,000. The Columbian Club House is sit- 
uated at the corner of Lindell boulevard and 
Vandeventer a\-euue. It is a good type of the 
Italian renaissance style of architecture, with a 
facade of buff Roman brick and buff Bedford 
limestone. The building is four stories high 
and has a frontage of 114 feet. The new Good 
Shepherd Convent, costing nearly $50t),000, is 
in course of construction on Gravois avenue, a 
little west of Grand. The tract of land was 
presented by Adolphus Busch, and upon it is 
being constructed a building in Romanesque 



style, with little unnecessar}' ornamentation but 
of large capacity. The principal facade is 400 
feet long, and the building is three stories high. 
Space prevents a detailed description of all 
the elegant buildings in course of construction 
at the present time, or which have been built 
during the last three years, but enough has been 
written to show that capitalists have an un- 
limited confidence in the future of New St. Louis 
and are willing at all times to invest freely in 
buildings of the better class. And it is very 
important to emphasize the fact that, although 
the year 1893 has been in ever)' way unfavor- 
able for new enterprises and generally discourag- 
ing for mercantile interests, there has been no 
difficulty in renting the rooms and offices in the 
new buildings, although the apartments now 
luimber several thousand. Favorite offices in 
the best buildings luuing the very best sites 
and locations have been secured long before 
work was completed, and the rapidity with 
which the new buildings have filled up is a 
striking testimony to the expansion of St. Louis 
and its manufacturing, commercial and finan- 
cial interests. No city on the continent has 
been transformed more completely by aid of the 
builder and contractor during the last six or 
eight years, yet the percentage of vacant offices 
in St. Louis is smaller than in any other large 
city. In other words, phenomenal as has been the 
increase in building, the demand has more than 
kept pace with that increase; and from every 
appearance it is still continuing to grow. 

The growth of the city, 
and the immense expendi- 
ture on improvements, has 
had a marked effect on the 
value of real estate. There has never been any 
wildcat speculation in the city, and, although 
the transactions have frequently shown a total 
consideration money exceeding on an average 
$1,000,000 a week, and continuing for many 
weeks, the bulk of the investing has been for the 
purposeof improvement, and not for mere specula- 
tion. It is on record that the ground now bounded 
by Market and Wash streets, and by Broadway 
and Jefferson avenue, w-as once sold for $4,000 



A COMPARISON 

OF 

REALTY PRICES. 



BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS. 



103 



in cash and 2,400 levies of furs. The vahxe 
of this property to-day exceeds $250, 000, 000, 
and it inchxdes some of the most costly front- 
ages in St. Louis. There are several frontages 
worth more per foot than was paid for this 
entire tract in the city's early days. Thus, the 
corner of Broadway and Olive street is esti- 
mated to be worth more than $10,000 a foot; 
passing up Olive street the value decreases 
slightly going west. Thus, Seventh and Olive 
ground is worth about $8,000 a foot, while at 
Twelfth and Olive it is worth $2,r)00. West of 
Jefferson avenue the value decreases less rap- 
idly, and even as far west as Jefferson avenue 
available corners sell at $1,.")00 a foot front. 
The average value of Olive street property, be- 
tween Twelfth street and Broadway, is $6,834; 
and between Twelfth street and Jefferson avenue 
it is $2,000. There are about 14,(;00 feet of 
ground on Olive street, between Broadway and 
Jefferson avenue. The value of the property 
between Twelfth street and Jefferson avenue is 
$19,466,000; and between Twelfth street and 
Broadway it is $33,249,378. 

These figures, of course, do not include the 
value of any building impro\-ements on the 
property. Olive street frontage, in the busi- 
ness part of the city, is regarded as the most 
valuable property in the city at present. Lo- 
cust street and Broadway is worth $6,000 a foot. 
At Seventh street, Locust street property is 
worth $2,000 a foot; at Twelfth street, $1,500; 
and at Jefferson avenue, $300. The average 
value per foot, west of Twelfth street, is $3,166. 
Between Twelfth street and Jefferson avenue it 
is $900 a foot. The estimated value of the 
property on Locust street, between Broadway 
and Twelfth street, is $15,399,156, and be- 
tween Twelfth street and Jefferson avenue it is 
$8,758,800. St. Charles street at Broadway is 
worth $4,000 a foot. At Seventh street it is 
worth $1,200 a foot; at Twelfth street, $1,500 
a front foot. West of Twelfth street, vSt. Charles 
street is practically no street. The average 
value of St. Charles street property, between 
Twelfth street and Broadway, is $2,233 a front 
foot, or $10,865,778. 



The corner of Washington avenue and Broad- 
way is worth $6,000 a front foot. At Seventh 
street, Washington avenue property is worth 
$3,000 a front foot ; at Twelfth street, $2,000; 
and at Jefferson avenue, $1,000. The average 
value per foot, east of Twelfth street and west of 
Broadway, is $3,667 a foot, and between Twelfth 
street and Jefferson avenue the average value is 
$1,500 a foot. The property east of Twelfth 
street, on Washington avenue, is worth about 
$17,596,800. The property on Washington 
avenue, between Twelfth street and Jefferson 
avenue, is worth, approximately, $14,400,000. 
Lucas avenue and Broadway is worth about 
$3,000 a foot. At Seventh street, Lucas avenue 
property is valued at $1,000 a foot ; at Twelfth 
street, $800; and at Jefferson avenue, $200 a foot. 
The average value per foot between Twelfth 
street and Broadway is $1,600 a foot; and be- 
tween Twelfth street and Jefferson avenue it is 
$500 per foot. The property on Lucas avenue, 
between Twelfth street and Broadway, is worth 
about $7,680,000; and between Twelfth street 
and Jefferson avenue it is worth $4,800,000. 
The corner of Morgan street and Broadway is 
worth about $2,000; Seventh and Morgan is 
worth $800 a foot; Twelfth and Morgan, $1,000; 
and Jefferson avenue and Morgan, $300 a foot. 
The average value of Morgan street property, 
between Twelfth street ancf Broadway, is $1,266; 
and the average value of Morgan street property, 
between Twelfth street and Jefferson avenue, is 
1650 a foot. The total value of Morgan street 
property, between Twelfth street and Broadway, 
is 12,560,356; and between Twelfth street and 
Jefferson avenue it is $6,325,800. The corner 
of Broadway and Franklin avenue is worth 
$4,000 at foot. At Seventh street, Franklin av- 
enue property is worth $1,500 a front foot; at 
Twelfth street, $1,500; and at Jefferson avenue, 
$750. The average value per foot east of 
Twelfth street is $3,333; and between Twelfth 
street and Jefferson avenue it is $ 1 , 1 25. The esti- 
mated total value of the ground between Twelfth 
street and Broadway, on Franklin avenue, is 
$15,408,689; and between Twelfth street and 
Jefferson avenue it is $11,099,250. 



104 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



ST. LOUIS REAL ESTATE 
AS AN mVESTMENT. 



These figures are 



selected as evidence 
of the growth in val- 
ues. It will be noticed that they are not specu- 
lative in any way, because nearly all of the 
property mentioned is in:pro\-ed with substan- 
tial buildings, and has not been bought and sold 
for speculation at values based upon surmises 
and possible growth. In the neighborhood of 
the new Union Station the increase in values 
has been more phenomenal and more specula- 
tive. Within four years prices have increased 
from five to ten-fold, although purchases are 
made without regard to the value of existing 
improvements. The influence of the enterprise 
of the Terminal Association has been felt to so 
marked an extent that the neighborhood within 
a few blocks of the depot is being completely 
reconstructed, and elegant hotels, boarding- 
houses, stores and mercantile establishments are 
taking the place of the comparatively small 
dwelling-houses which monopolized the frontage 
during the last decade of Old St. Louis and the 
first five or six years of New. The heavy ex- 
penditure in railroad improvements in the North 
End has had a similar influence on values, 
and, indeed, at the present time, it is almost 
impossible to obtain property at prices approx- 
imating those that were asked five or six years 
ago, and even more recently. The sudden with- 
drawal of capital from investment during the 
summer and fall of 1893 did not have any ma- 
terial effect on values in St. Louis. The num- 
ber of purchasers, of course, was greatly reduced, 
and sales were much harder to consummate; but 
holders had such tmlimited faith in both the 
present and future greatness of St. Louis that 
they declined to sacrifice, and the number of 
"hard times" sales at cut prices was very 
small. St. Louis real estate was the last to feel 
the influence of the depression, and the first to 
benefit by the restoration of confidence, and the 
business during the winter has not been far be- 
low the average. These facts show that St. Louis 
is not a "boom" town, and that, as an invest- 
ment for large and small sums, its real estate 
offers advantages not to be equaled elsewhere. 



Immense fortunes have been made out of 
judicious investments in the city; and in still 
more instances substantial and satisfactory re- 
turns have been received. The reputation for 
solidity and conservatism in finances has helped 
the real estate interests of St. Louis to a marked 
extent. The amount of loanable capital from a 
distance has always been large, and one com- 
pany alone, the Connecticut Mutual Life In- 
surance Company, has loaned upwards of 
$20,000,000 in St. Louis since its general 
awakening and revival. Mr. E. S. Rowse, who 
has negotiated the loans, rejoices in the fact 
that his books show an absolutely clean rec- 
ord, not a single case of foreclosure marring 
their pages. This company has loaned about 
$35,000,000 in the State, and its success and 
enterprise is merely quoted because of the very 
profitable faith in St. Louis and in Missouri 
which the vastness of its operations demon- 
strates so conclusively. 

At the time of this writing millions of dollars 
are known to have been withdrawn from specu- 
lative investment and placed in deposit vaults, 
where the money is unproductive. The loss of 
thousands of dollars a year in interest this way 
naturally arouses capitalists of every grade to a 
sense of the error they are committing, and the 
indications are that a greater portion of the 
money will be taken from the "stockings" 
without further delay and invested where it is 
quite as safe and a thousand times more produc- 
tive — St. Louis real estate. The natural conse- 
quence will be renewed and increased activity 
during the coming year, with countless jjrojects 
of improvements and hundreds of new buildings. 
If this work partook of the nature of advice to 
investors, there would be no better ending to 
this chapter than a recommendation to investors 
to take time by the forelock and make their 
selections and purchases before the enhancement 
of values which the increased demand of the 
coming spring is certain to create. The specu- 
lator is not very likely to make a mistake if he 
selects New St. Louis as the field of his opera- 
tions; while the investor has a still greater guar- 
antee of satisfactory returns. 



MUNICIPAL DE I 'EL OPMENT. 



105 



CHAPTER X. 

MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT. 

THE NEW WATER-WORKS.-NEW CITY HALL. -NEW ST. LOUIS, THE PIONEER IN STREET 

SPRINKLING AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING. 



^ "VHE PROGRESS made iu municipal iiisti- 

\ / tutions and features during the last ten 

(g) (g) years has been enormous, and the New 

St. Louis idea has been warmly supported 



la 



and fostered by the city authorities. 



In the first chapter the cit\'s incor- 
poration and the extension of the city limits 
from time to time are briefly recorded, and in 
pursuance of the plan on which this work is 
based, only those features which have a strong 
bearing on the city's new growth will be dealt 
with at any length, while nothing in the shape 
of a municipal history of Old St. Louis will be 
attempted. It is impossible, however, to omit 
a tribute to the genuine integrity and zeal of the 
men who have been placed at the head of the 
city go\'ernment from time to time. The earlier 
mayors were not assisted by commissioners, as 
now, and all the detail work passed through 
their hands. At this stage of the city's history 
the mayor is at the head of an immense body of 
workers, and the Board of Public Improvements 
has a president whose duties are as numerous as 
the sands on the sea-shore. The other members 
of the board are the street, water, sewer, harbor 
and park commissioners, each in control of the 
department from which he takes his name. 
The health department is managed by a com- 
missioner who has no seat in the "B. P. I." 
cabinet, and among the other heads of depart- 
ments are the city register, the supply commis- 
sioner and the building commissioner. 

The following table, giving the names of the 
mayors of St. Louis since the city's incorpora- 



tion, and data as to population, will be of inter- 
est, and will also show concisely how rapidly 
the citv has grown: 



Period of 
Atliuiniytratioii 



Mayor, 



1823-28 . 

1829-32 

1833 

1833-34 

1835-37 

1838-39. 

1S40 .. 

1841 .. 

1842 .. 
1843 
1844^5 
1846 
1847 .. 
1848 
1849 .. 
1850-52 
1853-54 
1855 
1856 
1S57 
1858-60 
1861-62, 
1863 
1864-68 
1869-70 
1871-74 
1875 

1875 -, 
1876 

1877-81... 
1881-85.. 
1885-89.. 
1889 

1889-93 .. 
1893 ... 



Wm. Carr Laue 

Daniel D. Page 

Samuel Merry* 

J. W. Johnson 

John V. Darby 

Wm. Carr Lane 

John F. Darby 

John D. Daggett ... 
George Maguire .... 

John M. Wimer 

Bernard Pratte 

P. G. Camden 

lirjan Mullanphy. 

John 1\L Krum 

James G. liarry 

L. M. Keunett 

John How 

Washington King - 

John How 

John IL Wimer 

Oliver D. Filley . . 

Dan. G. Taylor 

Chaun. I. Filley .... 

Jas. vS. Thomas 

Nathan Cole 

Joseph Brown 

Arthur Barrettf 

James H. Britton 
Henry OverstolzJ .. 
Henry Overstolz.... 

Wm. L. Ewing 

D. R. Fraucisfi 

Geo. W. Allen II 

F. A. Noonan 
C. P. Walbridge . 



Dntc of 
Census. 



1820 
1S3(.I 



1835 
1840 



18.50 



1860 



1870 



1880 



1890 
1893 



I'opulHLion. 

4,928 

5,832 

8^316 
16,469 



74,439 



160,773 



310,963 



350,518 



3451,770 
(5620,000 



^■^ Disquiilififd ill consequence of holdiiif;; ottice under general gov- 
ernment. J. \\ . .lohnson elected in his place. 

t Died April ;."3, 187.5. J. II. Britlon elected to fill vacancy. 

X Declared elected by City Council February 9, 1870, instead of 
.lames H. Hritton. 

S I). R. Francis elected Governor of Missouri, and resigned .Jan- 
uary ■->. 1889. 

]| Geo. \S . .\IIen. being President City Council, became mayor. 

a Federal census, generally (conceded to be at least 30,000 too small. 

b Directory census early in year. 



106 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



I^AYOR EWING, 
1881—1885. 



It was during the mayor- 
alt)- of ^Ir. W. L. Ewing that 
New St. Louis commenced to 
exist. The pen with which Mr. Ewing signed 
his approval of the ordinance authorizing the 
construction of the first rapid-transit street rail- 
road in St. Louis ought to have been preserved 
in the city archives, for, as we have seen, that 
ordinance enabled a complete change to be 
made, not only in the street railroad facilities, 
birt also in the city itself. The next event of 
importance, or perhaps an event of equal im- 
portance, during Mayor Ewing's administration 
was the commencement of the repa\-ing of the 
down-town streets with granite. This was done 
under the fostering guidance of ]\Ir. J. W. Tur- 
ner, who was street commissioner at the time, 
and whose work was of so high an order that his 
name has since been mentioned as a desirable 
candidate for almost every municipal office of 
importance from the mayoralty down. Mr. Tur- 
ner found the streets in but an indifferent condi- 
tion, not worse, perhaps, than those of other 
cities, but in no way suited for the heavy traffic of 
a busy manufacturing district. The soft road- 
ways gave way under heavy loads, and in many 
instances extra teams had to be obtained to pull 
wagons out of holes and ruts. Reference has 
already been made to the opposition with which 
the proposal to pave the down-town streets with 
granite was received, but the authorities held 
their own, and finally the good work was com- 
menced in earnest. In the spring of 1883 there 
were little more than three miles of granite 
paving in the city, but during the years 
1884 and 1885 reconstruction on a wholesale 
scale was completed, and at the end of the lat- 
ter year there were over twenty-two miles of 
granite streets in the city, with about a mile of 
limestone blocks, a little over two miles of 
wooden blocks, four miles of asphalt, five of 
telford and about 285 of macadam. 

In his report for the year 1885, Mr. Turner 
went very fully into the granite pavement ques- 
tion. "It is needless to say," he remarked, 
"that the granite pavements have gi\-en great 
satisfaction. They have facilitated and thereby 



decreased the cost of transportation o\er our 
streets very largely. Houses handling large 
amounts of heavy goods report that it has 
reduced the cost of transportation two-fifths. 
A great deal of the objection that was raised at 
first against these pavements in anticipation of 
excessive noise has subsided; either the noise 
was not so great as was expected or the people 
ha\-e become accustomed to it. Doubtless, in 
narrow streets on which the traffic is very great, 
the noise is quite objectionable, but we have few 
of these; and taking the immense advantage 
gained by having solid and enduring pavements 
facilitating the operations of the commerce of the 
cit\-, we can tolerate a few disadvantages arising 
from our new pavements. The character of our 
work can be considered first-class in e\ery re- 
spect; the quality of the stone is good. We have 
now several varieties to select from, and the 
supply on the line of the Iron Mountain Rail- 
road, within a haul of one hundred and fifty 
miles of the city, is inexhaustible. The price 
of these pavements has been gradually falling; 
our last lettings show a very great reduction, 
due to competition, resulting from new parties 
opening new quarries, thereby increasing the 
supply of stone in the market; and also due to 
increased capacity of and facilities for operating 
old quarries." 

The wear and tear of eight 
years has more than borne out 
Mr. Turner's estimate of the 
high character of the Avo-rk. 
The best laid of the down-town streets are still 
in perfect order, and show little or no signs of 
wear. The mileage of the granite streets has 
increased steadily every year, and Mr. Turner's 
successors, Messrs. Burnett and Murphy, have 
evinced as much enthusiasm on the subject as 
Mr. Turner himself. There are now some forty- 
six miles of granite-paved streets in the city, in 
addition to nearly five miles of granite-paved 
alle)-s. Limestone blocks for streets have not 
proved entirely satisfactory, but there are up- 
wards of eight^•-four miles of alleys paved this 
way, and giving good service. The mileage 
of telford pavement has been increased since 



THE STREETS 

AND 
THEIR PAVING. 



MUNICIPAL DE I 'EL OPMENT. 



107 



the revival, and there are now some thirty-three 
miles pa\ed in this way, with a total mileage of 
improved streets and alle}'s exceeding 450. The 
streets of the city, and more especially the side- 
walks, are now on the whole far better paved 
than those of the average American city, 
althongh the rapid increase in territory has made 
it impossible to keep up with the city's growth. 
In order to expedite improvements, the law con- 
cerning the apportionment of cost was revised in 
1892, and it is now enacted that the entire 
cost of reconstrnction shall be charged against 
adjoining property, regardless of its assessed 
valnation. As the resnlt of this enactment, 
known as the "Stone law," a large quantity of 
improvement work has been commenced and is 
under contemplation, and the splendid reform in 
Mayor Ewing's term will soon be so developed 
and bronght to such perfection as to canse delight 
to St. Louis citizens generally. 

When St. Louis was first settled, the high 
o-round on the bluffs was what attracted the 

o 

pioneers, who knew nothing and cared less 
about the magnificent location beyond the bluffs, 
and how admirably the site was adapted for a 
great city. After the abrupt rise from the river, 
there is a table-land with just sufficient grade to 
make drainage easy, extending se\eral miles 
north and south, and about three-quarters of a 
mile west. Beyond this right out to the city 
limits the ground is rolling, a succession of hills 
and vallej'S with a gradual tendency upwards, 
affording admirable opportunities for street 
laying and general draining. Had our ances- 
tors been less conservative in the matter of 
extending the city limits and had they taken in 
fresh territory before instead of after it was 
platted out and built up, we should have had in 
St. Louis a magnificent system of rectangular 
streets. As it is, St. Louis is really made up of 
a large number of incorporated towns and vil- 
lages, and as many of these had a complete 
system of streets before being absorbed, there 
are several irregularities which have given 
trouble to the authorities from time to time in 
the way of street-naming. The trees to be 
found in the forest around the cit)- in its early 



days suggested- names for the principal streets 
running east and west; and to a great extent the 
streets running north and south ha\e been from 
time to time numbered consecutively instead of 
being named. East of Jefferson avenue the 
numerical system of nomenclature is fairly 
regular, but west of that thoroughfare most of 
the north and south streets are known as 
avenues, and aregiven distinctive names, consid- 
erable confusion being caused thereby. Shortly 
after the adoption of the scheme and charter, 
there was a general overhauling of names, and 
at the present time a motion is before the Mu- 
nicipal Assembly to further simplify the system. 
Market street has always been the dividing line 
between north and south, and all numbers 
north and south commence from this historical 
thoroughfare. The numbers on the streets run- 
ning east and west commence from the river, 
and each block has its distinctive number. The 
plan, on the whole, works well; and a reform 
now being perfected whereby street signs will 
be made more numerous and conspicuous, will 
do away with nearly every complaint. 

Since Street Commissioner 
Turner commenced his cru- 
sade against unpaved streets 
in the business section, the boulevard idea has 
gained nuich strength in St. Louis. The first 
boulevard to be constructed was the Lindell, 
which is still looked upon as one of the finest 
driveways in the West. It connects Grand 
avenue with Forest Park, and is a popular 
driveway as well as a most desirable promenade. 
It is adorned with some of the most magnificent 
houses in the city, and is regarded by visitors as 
a great credit, not only to St. Louis but to the 
West generally. Forest Park boulevard, a few 
blocks south of the Lindell is, in some respects, 
even more elaborate than what is generally known 
as "TheBoidevard." It has a park-like reserva- 
tion in the center of the street, and when more 
thoroxighly built up will be a strong competitor 
for public fa\-or. The present street commis- 
sioner, Mr. M. J. Murphy, is responsible for a 
comprehensive plan of boulevards, which will 
add some sixty miles to those already in exist- 



THE BOULEVARD 
SYSTEM. 



108 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOU/S. 



ence. In March, INIH, an act was passed by 
tlie State Assembly antlioriziiig cities of more 
than 300,000 inhabitants — or, in other words, 
St. Louis, there being no other city in the State 
with even half that number of inhabitants — to 
establish boulevards with special building-line, 
and restricted as to the nature of the travel. 
The boulevards will vary in length and will 
provide a system of driveways unsurpassed in 
any city in the country. Among those already 
dedicated under the act may be mentioned the 
boulevards already described, Delmar boulevard, 
from Grand avenue to city limits, a distance of 
four miles; and Washington boulevard, a par- 
allel street. Among those comprised in the sys- 
tem will be Columbia boulevard; Florissant 
boulevard, from Hebert street to the city limits, 
a distance of five miles; King's Highway, from 
Arsenal street to Florissant avenue, six miles; 
Union avenue, from Forest Park to Natural 
Bridge road; Skinker boulevard, skirting the 
city limits some six miles, and se\'eral other 
shorter but scarcely less important lengths of 
thoroughfare. 

The boulevard system, when completed, will 
add some fifty or sixty miles to the most beauti- 
ful thoroughfares of St. Louis, which in them- 
selves are far more attractive than the average 
citizen is apt to realize. A visitor from the dis- 
tance seeing Vandeveuter, Westmoreland or 
Portland place, for the first time, is enchanted 
with the delightful combination of urban wealth 
with rural beauty. The park reservations in 
these places, which are selected as types of 
others either in contemplation or in course of 
construction, are kept in the highest stage of cul- 
tivation. The roadways on either side of them 
are almost perfect, and the houses which have 
either been constructed or are being erected 
are models of architectural excellence. Taken 
altogether, the streets, avemres, boule\'ards and 
private places of St. Louis are unequaled, and 
they are an honor to New St. Louis and to the 
men who in the early days of the revival lent 
their influence and ability to a mo\-emeiit which 
has resulted so ad\'antageously, and which prom- 
ises to attain far greater excellence. 



MA YOR FRANCIS, 
I88S-I889. 



The administration of 
Mayor David R. Francis ex- 
tended over a period of great 
importance to New St. Louis. Mr. Francis was 
elected in the spring of 1885, and he continued 
at the head of the city government until the end 
of 1888, when he resigned in consequence of his 
election to the highest office within the gift of 
the State of Missouri. Politicians of everv grade 
give him credit for encouraging every movement 
calculated to add to the city's greatness, and also 
for originating and recommending a large num- 
ber of reforms and new enterprises of the utmost 
importance. If the ex-mayor and ex-governor 
were asked what was the most vital question 
with which he was called upon to deal while 
occupying the mayoralty chair, it is probable 
he would reply that it related to the city's water 
supply, which, when he took charge, was being 
rapidly overtaken by the city's great increase in 
population. The growth in population during 
the eighties exceeded 100,000, and it is generally 
conceded that the bulk of this increase took 
place after 1884, or during the latter half of the 
decade. The danger, or at least the possibility, 
of a water famine in the event of the slightest 
break-down in the machinery of the existing 
plant so impressed the mayor that he cordially 
endorsed the recommendations of Water Com- 
missioner Whitman and lent his influence to the 
movement, which resulted in work being com- 
menced to entirely reconstruct the system and 
furnish water settled and filtered in sufficient 
quantity to supply the demand of 1,000,000 
people. 

The history of the water supply of St. Louis 
is one of contimial expenditure and improve- 
ment. So rajMd has been the city's growth 
that no sooner has one system been perfected 
than new works have been discussed. In the 
early days of the city water was procured by 
means of wells; and about seventy years ago 
the problem of water-works construction began 
to be discussed. Work was conuneuced on the 
first water-works in 1830. They were situated 
in the neighborhood of Ashley, Collins and 
Bates streets, and the first reser\'oir was on 



MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT. 



109 



Little AIouiul. Engine-houses were built at the 
foot of Bates street, and a six-inch main laid. 
The enterprise was a private one, but did not 
prove very profitable to the investor, and the 
city was compelled to render financial assist- 
ance. In 1835 the works were purchased for 
$l<S,0O(), and before three years had expired 
they had proved to be altogether inadequate. 
Complaints are heard at the present time of 
the water rates being higher than necessary, 
but they are small compared with the early 
charges, despite the fact that money at that 
time was much less plentiful than now. Pri- 
vate families were charged §10 or $20, ac- 
cording to the number of children, and the 
charges for stores, offices and factories varied 
from §10 to $500. Early in the forties consid- 
erable improvements were made, and in 184(5 a 
third engine was put up by Kingsland & Light- 
ner. In 18.")2 the Hercules engine was put up 
by Gaty & :\IcCune. In 1.S.J4 the Benton Reser- 
voir, with a capacity of 40,000,000 gallons, was 
constructed, and in 18;');) there were seventy 
miles of iron pipe, and it was announced that the 
water supply was abundant. 

In 1865 tlie State Legislature passed a law 
creating a Board of Water Commissioners for 
St. Louis, and to the credit of this commission 
it should be stated that one of its first recom- 
mendations was the construction of a reser- 
voir and filtering-beds at the Chain of Rocks, 
with a conduit to Baden. The plan was re- 
jected in Alarch, LSCii, and was severely criti- 
cised on the ground of its being experimental 
and even visionary in character. Time justifies 
a great many projects, and after the lapse of 
twenty years the Chain of Rocks was finally 
selected as the most appropriate point for the 
construction of an inlet tower. Had the recom- 
mendations of the commissioners been accej^ted 
in 18()5 and 1806 the city would have been 
richer by several million dollars and its record 
for healthfulness, good as it has been, would 
have been far better. Bissell's Point was se- 
lected as the site for the works which were 
necessary and work was commenced upon them. 
The buildings, which are still in existence and 



THE 

WATER-WORKS 

TWENTY YEARS AOO. 



in use, comprise two series of structures, one 
for the high-service and the other for the low- 
service system. The reservoirs have each a 
capacity of 23,000,000 gallons, and before the 
demand for water became so great that it was 
impossible to allow sufficient time for settling, 
the supply was clear as well as abundant. The 
Compton Hill Reservoir was also constructed, 
with a capacity of 56,000,000 gallons. This 
reservoir, being 176 feet above the city direct- 
rix, practically commands the entire city. 

In 1871 the system was 
practically completed. 
Accounts prepared at the 
time show that its capac- 
ity was, although large, far less than the de- 
mand it has been called upon to supply during 
recent years, and it has only been by incessant 
care that the wants of the people have been sup- 
plied. The new water-works, as they were 
called in 1871, cost the city about S4,000,()()0, 
and the valuation of the entire system and 
grounds was a little in excess of $7,000,000. 
In 1881 contracts were let for a fourth high- 
service engine, and during that year Water 
Commissioner Whitman, in his report, said: 
"Another question requiring consideration and 
the official action of the municipal authorities, 
is as to whether we shall continue to take the 
water from the river at Bissell's Point, or, in 
the extension of the works, they shall be planned 
with a view to taking the water higher up the 
ri\er to the Chain of Rocks." Recommenda- 
tions, such as this, followed, and Mayor Fran- 
cis, as already stated, became thoroughly 
impressed with the importance of strengthening 
and increasing the ser\-ice, and also of obtaining 
a supply from the Chain of Rocks, so as to 
avoid the danger of contamination b)' city sewers. 
Not only had the ijopulation of the city 
increased very rapidly, but the consumption of 
water, per inhabitant, had also nearly doubled 
in ten years, increasing from fourteen and a 
half gallons per head per day in 1.S72 to about 
twenty-eight gallons in 1882. The collections 
for water license showed a still more remark- 
able growth, in spite of the frequent reductions 



110 



OLD AND NFAV ST. LOUIS. 



in the charges, which enabled manufacturers to 
obtain water more cheaply than was possible 
elsewhere. In 1836 the annual collections were 
about $4,.")00, and it was not until the year 18-40 
that the total exceeded $20,000. In 1851 it was 
$30,000, and in 18(30 it nearly reached $100,000. 
The collections since then have been as follows, 
the calculations being made to the months of 
April or May in each year: 



Year. 


Amount. 


Year. 


Amount. 


1861 


$ 114,760 35 
123,090 25 
147,120 95 
170,313 30 
208,340 90 
248,268 33 
248,575 30 
288,910 07 
321,412 50 
323,102 00 
335,626 91 
373,194 60 
426,922 59 
444,622 35 
414,870 44 
456,163 39 
445,041 14 


1S78 


% 512,053 19 
550,140 60 


1862 


1879 


1863 


1880 


620,280 30 


1864 


1881 


660,024 75 


1865 


1S82 


700,145 65 


186G 


1883 


719,686 37 


1867 


1884 


736,694 26 


1868 


1885 


759,265 53 


1869 


1886 


800,325 70 


1870 


1887 


868,043 25 


1871 


1888 


919,975 18 


1872 


1889 


952,689 25 


1873 


1890 .... 


1,017,016 20 


1874 


1891 


1,132,088 40 


1875 

1876 


1,S92 

1893 .. 


1,173.998 30 
1,235,933 30 


1877 









THE NEW WORKS 

AT THE 
CHAIN OF ROCKS. 



Although the projectors 
of the new water-works 
were not aware that in 
the year ending April, 
1893, more than .$1,200,000 would be collected 
in water rates, they realized the impending 
growth of the city and predicted an enormous 
increase in consumption as a result both of the 
gain in population and in manufactures. The 
usual opposition was forthcoming, but with the 
aid of the mayor's influence a thoroughly com- 
prehensive scheme was finally adopted, and in 
the year 1888 contracts began to be let for the 
new works. They are situated at the Chain of 
Rocks, about twelve miles north of the business 
section of St. Louis, the plan being to secure 
pure water by aid of an inlet tower in the river, 
and to draw it through a gigantic conduit to the 
city proper. Among the appointments made by 
]\Iayor Francis, was that of Mr. M. L,. Holman 
to succeed Mr. Whitman as water commis- 
sioner, and upon him has devolved the great 
work of construction. At the present time the 



works are nearly completed, and the city will 
soon have a water supply "beyond criticism. 
Perhaps the most magnificent feature of the 
new water-works and their connections, is the 
seven-mile conduit between the Chain of Rocks 
and Bissell's Point. This conduit is one of the 
finest in the country, and has been constructed 
in the most substantial manner. 

The inlet tower stands well out from the 
shore, with which it is connected by an intact 
tunnel cut from the solid rock. About midway 
in the depth of the stream the water is let into 
the tunnel by means of six iron gates operated 
by hydraulic lifts. At low water eighty feet of 
the tower is visible, but at high water only about 
fifty feet. The tower cost about $100,000. A 
technical description of the works would occupy 
several j^ages, and would only be of limited 
interest to those uninitiated into the mysteries of 
engineering. It is important, however, to note 
that the new basins and filter-beds will suffice to 
settle and filter suffrcient water to supply the 
needs of the city for the next ten years at least, 
and if the new works are overtaxed to the same 
extent as the old works, a sufficient supply will 
probably be forthcoming for ten years longer. 
Five years have already been occupied in the 
work, and the total cost will be in the neighbor- 
hood of $4,000,000. 

We have already anticipated somewhat, as 
the works were only commenced during the ad- 
ministration of Mayor Francis. But the de- 
cision to obtain a supply several miles north of 
the city's sewer outlets, and to erect new works 
on a generous scale, marks such an epoch in the 
municipal growth of the city as to be deserving 
of more than passing mention. St. Louis is 
fortunate in being situated on the banks of a 
river which furnishes an unlimited supply of 
water of an exceedingly healthy character. 
Since it has been necessary to overtax the works, 
the water has not been so clear as desired, but 
when filtered the water of the Missouri river 
is at least as good as that furnished in any city 
in the country. Although the Missouri and 
Mississippi rivers reach each other in their 
course several miles above St. Louis, they do 



MUNICIPAL DE I ^EL OPMENT 



111 



not thorono;h]y unite until they have passed the 
city, the denser water of the Missouri being 
easily distinguished from the brighter Missis- 
sippi water as the two flow side by side between 
Alton and St. Louis. The Missouri water is far 
more suitable for drinking purposes and is freer 
from deleterious matter, and, although it has 
been criticised from time to time, the best an- 
swer to such criticisms is the exceptional health- 
fulness of St. Louis. The following table, taken 
from the Scientific American of December 9, 
1893, shows the death-rate in the cities of the 
world credited with a population exceeding, or 
approximating, 500,000, the estimated popula- 
tion being that of 189:^: 



London 

Paris 

New York 

Berlin 

Chicago 

Vienna 

Philadelphia 

Brooklyn 

St. Louis 

Brussels 

Boston 

Baltimore 

Dublin 



Population. 


Deaths. 


Death-rate 
per 1,000. 


5,849,104 


55,895 


19.11 


2,424,705 


28,675 


23.61 


1,801,739 


23,856 


26.47 


1,069,124 


17,181 


20.58 


1,458,000 


13,590 


18.95 


1,435,931 


18,005 


25.07 


1,115,562 


12,249 


21 .95 


978,394 


10,682 


21.84 


520,000 


4,802 


18.47 


488,188 


4,3.59 


17.86 


487,397 


5,816 


23.88 


455,427 


4,806 


•Jl.lO 


349,594 


4,735 


27.05 



THE HEALTHIEST 

LARGE CITY 
l!\! THE WORLD. 



From this table it will be 
seen that St. Louis is the 
healthiest large city in the 
world. Countless millions 
have been spent in sanitary work in London, 
the death-rate in which city has been reduced 
rapidly, but it still stands higher than that of 
St. Louis, whose record of 18.47 to the thousand 
speaks volumes for the purity of its water supply 
and the efficiency of its sewer system. More- 
over, a death-rate of 18.47 is somewhat high for 
St. Louis, which has begun to look at anything 
much above 18 as exceeding the normal. 

Among the other strictly municipal reforms 
effected during the administration of IMayor 
Francis, the sprinkling of the streets by munici- 
pal contracts may be mentioned, partly be- 
cause St. Louis in this, as in many other things, 
set an example to the entire country, and partly 



because of the phenomenal success which has 
been achieved. It is not to be suggested that 
Old St. Louis allowed the dust to blow as it 
pleased during the summer months. There 
were sprinkling contractors in abundance, but 
they did their work in quite a primitive style. 
They made a contract with the owner of a house 
or lot to sprinkle in front of his premises, and 
when every property holder on a block entered 
into the arrangement, fairly satisfactory but very 
costly service was rendered. What generally 
happened, however, was the omission of enough 
street frontage to spoil the entire work. Owners 
of vacant property were necessarily averse to 
paying large sums for sprinkling, and, hence, 
the peculiar phenomenon of streets sprinkled in 
sections and patches was common. Early in 
the term of Mayor Francis, the question of a 
comprehensive system of street sprinkling be- 
came a live subject, and a charter amendment 
having been obtained, a sprinkling department 
was formed and contracts were let for sprinkling 
most of the streets of the city. From the first 
the change was popular. The saving of ex- 
pense was enormous and the work far more 
satisfactory. In his message to the Municipal 
Assembly in May, 1888, Mayor Francis claimed 
that the problem of abating the dust nuisance 
had been met and solved; and the experience of 
the last five years shows that he was correct. 
A large number of delegations have visited St. 
Louis from other cities to inspect the street 
sprinkling and investigate the system, and as 
a result many cities have already followed 
in the foot.steps of the metropolis of the West 
and Southwest. A mileage of streets covering 
about 450 miles is now sprinkled, and the cost 
is but little in excess of $150,000. It is prob- 
able that in the old system quite as much, if 
not more, was paid, although the service was 
not one-fourth as complete or satisfactory. 

Space makes it impossible to mention in detail, 
or even in the abstract, the countless interesting 
and important events which transpired during 
the administration of Mayor Francis. The visit 
of President Cleveland and the general decoration 
and illumination of the city in his honor may be 



112 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



MA YOR NOONAN, 
1889-1893. 



mentioned as the grandest spectacular event; 
and among the more strictly useful ones the 
completion and opening of the Grand Avenue 
Bridge is suflficiently important to deserve re- 
cording. Prior to the building of the bridge, 
Grand avenue, one of the best and most im- 
portant of the north and south streets, was 
divided into two parts by the Mill Creek Valley 
tracks, the crossing of which at grade practi- 
cally ruined that section of the avenue as a 
driveway. The new bridge, or viaduct, is a 
costly and handsome structure, and it has popu- 
larized Grand avenue as a driveway far more 
than even its projectors anticipated. 

The unexpired period of 
Mayor Francis' term was 
filled by Mr. George W. 
Allen, the president of the Council. Mr. Allen 
was succeeded in April, 1889, by Mr. Edward 
A. Noonan, whose administration was made 
conspicuous by an immense amount of munici- 
pal enterprise. Aside from the reconstruction, 
with electricity as the moti\-e power, of at least 
two-thirds of the street railroad mileage, the 
most important event of the Noonan administra- 
tion was, probably, the commencement of work 
by the Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy Railroad 
to secure an entrance to the city from the north, 
and to construct an independent system of ter- 
minals for its own use and for the convenience 
of roads with running powers over its tracks. 
This was a special hobby of Mr. Noonan, who 
recognized the tremendous importance of the 
work and who gave to it all the influence and 
weight the city government could lend. Scarcely 
less important was the final start on the new 
City Hall, which project had been talked of 
for a generation. While St. Louis had been 
outgrowing its water-works, it had completely 
outgrown the City Hall, which, although it 
answered the purpose for Old St. Louis, was 
absurdly inadequate for New vSt. Louis. As 
some indication of the growth of public senti- 
ment, it may be mentioned that in 1849 the 
City Council was authorized by legislation on 
the part of the State to "erect a City Hall on 
the square of land belonging to said city, sit- 



uated east of Main street, between Market and 
Walnut." The attemi^t was referred to in the 
Missouri Rcpitb/ican as " a foolish effort to ar- 
ray some feeling about the erection of a new 
market-house, stores, town hall and offices for 
the city officers on the square occupied by the 
old market and town hall." The "foolish 
effort" met with doubtful success, for four years 
later the same journal announced "with regret 
that nearly all prospects of the purchase of a lot 
on which to erect the new town hall had been 
al:)andoned for at least the present session of the 
City Council. A bill, drafted with a view to 
the proposed edifice, and allowing Mr. James H. 
Lucas $1)8,000 for the greater portion of the 
square bounded by Eleventh, Twelfth, Olive 
and Locust streets, has been under considera- 
tion of the Council for the past month or more, 
but was definitely killed at the session of Tues- 
day." 

Temporary accommodation was obtained in 
the new County Court House, and it was not 
until the year 18(38 that the subject of building 
a City Hall was revived. Four years later work 
was commenced on the building now generally 
condemned as inadequate, on Eleventh street, 
between Market and Chestnut. Mayor Brown, 
in a message to the Council shortly after work 
was commenced, expressed his regret that the 
city finances did not warrant the erection of a 
City Hall commensurate with existing needs 
and future growth, but he expressed satisfaction 
in the fact that the new building would do 
"indifferently well." It seems strange that 
only twenty years ago a building first designed 
to be two-stories high and to cost $48,750 
should have been deemed sufficient for the 
city's needs, and even when the plans were 
changed and a third story added, the total ex- 
penditure was only $70, 000, and the actual re- 
sult a building which even the most loyal citizen 
is compelled to look upon with feelings of re- 
gret, if not contempt. In 1880 Mayor Overstolz 
criticised the City Hall severely. "The build- 
ing now occupied by the municipal depart- 
ments," he said, in his annual message, "was 
not intended to be permanent, was not built in 



MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT. 



113 



THE 
NEW CITY HALL. 



a substantial manner, and does not afford the 
necessary accommodations. It has stood the 
test of use and time very indifferently, and for 
several years past it has cost a considerable 
amount annually for repairs, and its condition 
to-day is certainly not favorable for the safety 
of the valuable archives, records and other prop- 
erty stored therein. In character and size it is 
inadequate to the wants of the government, and 
its appearance is discreditable to a city of the 
reputation, vi^ealth and influence of St. Louis." 
The suggestion of the 
mayor was not acted upon, 
and possibly it is well that 
further delay was caused, because the idea at 
that time was to enlarge the Court House and 
make it do both for a Court House and City 
Hall, an arrangement which would ha\'e been a 
poor makeshift and a further source of regret. 
All through the eighties the question of a new 
City Hall was a live one, and shortly after Mayor 
Noonan's inauguration , the agitation was brought 
to a head and work was commenced on what 
promises to be one of the finest city halls in the 
world. The building is now nearly under roof 
and is being pushed forward as rapidly as pos- 
sible. It is situated in Washington Square, a 
block and half southwest of the old hall, and two 
blocks north of the old Union Depot. The 
square had for some ^-ears been used as a park, 
and when the fence around it is removed, there 
will be enough space left on all sides of the City 
Hall to provide a very handsome public square. 
The building has a frontage of 380 feet with a 
depth of about 220, and will have a floor surface 
of 500 square feet on each of its stories. It is 
five stories high, and a handsome bell-tower 
about 200 feet high is to surmount it. The 
general style of architecture is of the Louis XIV. 
order, and the building will be similar in appear- 
ance, although much more massi\-e and costly 
than the very attractive town halls to be seen in 
Normandy and Northern France. The basement 
and first story of the building are constructed of 
j\Iissouri granite, the material of the upper 
stories being buff Roman brick, with sandstone 
trimmings. 



The roof, upon which work is now in prog- 
ress, will be of black glazed Spanish tile, lend- 
ing a very handsome finish to a building which 
will be a distinct ornament to the cit}'. The 
interior courts are being lined with white glazed 
brick, and the entire structure will be fire-proof 
throughout. In addition to the apartments in 
the basement, there will be 150 rooms in the 
hall. The Council Chamber and the House of 
Delegates, will each cover 4,500 square feet, and 
the Treasury and Collector of Water Rates 
departments, now so inadequate for the conven- 
ience of the public, will be even larger than 
these two debating chambers. The arrange- 
ments for the interior decorations are very elab- 
orate, and as at present arranged will consist of 
granitoid floors for the store and filing-rooms in 
the basement; mosaic and marble tile flooring 
for corridors and the public spaces of oiifices; 
the placing of fire-proof arches between the 
iron joints to the building and marble flooring in 
working spaces of the ofKces. Under the head 
of interior finish is also included the entire 
plumbing of the building, including marble 
walls and partitions of lavatories. The general 
scheme of decoration consists of treating the 
first-story corridors of the building, the central 
rotunda, the Council Chamber, the House of 
Delegates and the Mayor's office in quite an 
elaborate manner, as those parts of the building 
are the ones seen by the casual visitor, and it 
was thought that they should be made more dec- 
orative than the general oflSces of the building. 
The finish in those cases will consist of scagliola 
art marble, and will be dignified and monu- 
mental. The working rooms of the building are 
treated in a strictly utilitarian manner, and, 
while the large amount of wainscoting necessary 
makes it expensive, it is strictly for the better- 
ment of the building, there being no waste in 
the way of an elaborate treatment that is purely 
ornamental. The absence of wood finish and 
the substitution of marble makes the building 
more strictly fire-proof, and also saves the ex- 
pense of keeping the woodwork presentable. 

The ceilings of the first-story corridors will be 
a succession of flat domes. These will be 



114 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



ELECTRIC 
STREET LIOHTINO. 



treated in fresco, using a dead gold finish, and 
the under parts of the rotunda will be painted 
an old ivory tint, with the ornamental panels and 
plaster decorations picked out with gilt. The 
chambers of the Council and House of Delegates 
are wainscoted fifteen feet high, above which is 
a wide jjlain belt of plaster, which is to be 
painted a flat tint of old ivory. Above this belt 
is an elaborate frieze of plaster, the ornaments 
of which are picked out with gilt. All the 
above decorations will be done in the style of 
Louis XIV. All the walls above the marble 
wainscoting and the ceilings of oflSces are 
frescoed in flat tones. The cost of the building 
and the internal decorations, with the furniture, 
will exceed $],r»()0,000 and may ajjproximate 
$2,000,000. 

Another event of special 
importance from a munici- 
pal standpoint during Mr. 
Noouan's administration was the lighting of the 
city streets and alleys by electricity. St. Louis 
was the first city in the United Spates to illumi- 
nate its alleys throughout by electric light, and 
it was really the first city in the world to make 
arrangements for lighting the whole of its 
streets in the same way. It is scarcely neces- 
sary to speak of the earliest attempts to light 
the streets of St. Louis. In 1837 the State 
Legislature authorized the St. Louis Gas Light 
Company to erect works for lighting St. Louis 
and suburbs with gas. The charter was amended 
in 1839 and again in 184.3, but the clause in the 
charter which was first taken advantage of was 
the one which authorized the company to do a 
banking business. In 184(3 a contract was en- 
tered into between the city and the company, 
and in November, 1847, the city was first lighted 
with gas. For forty-three years gas lamps held 
undisputed sway in St. Louis, but in the year 
188y a new department was added to the city 
government, under the management of a super- 
visor of city lighting. The contracts with the 
gas companies expired on January 1, 18!)0, on 
which day the alleys were for the first time 
lighted throughout by means of the incandes- 
cent system. The electric company which had 



the contract for arc lights for the streets was 
not ready to commence on the same date, but 
on May 1st the entire city was lighted by elec- 
tricity. 

During the early part of ISl^lO there were 
erected 1,552 arc lights for the streets, 1,4152 
incandescent lights for the alleys, and 3,442 in- 
candescent lights for public buildings. The 
work was rapidly increased, and early in 1891 
35(3 miles of streets and 81 miles of alleys were 
thoroughly illuminated by electricity. To do 
this more than 2,000 arc lights were required, 
and about 5,000 incandescent lights were in use 
in the alleys and in public buildings. The sys- 
temhassincebeenlargely increased, and St. Louis 
is certainly the best lighted city on the conti- 
nent to-day. 

During the last eight or ten years great prog- 
ress has been made with the la\ing of pul)lic 
sewers, and St. Louis, in addition to being 
favored with good streets and excellent lighting, 
has also a sewerage system which has conduced 
largely to the preservation of health and the 
general comfort of the inhabitants. The Mill 
Creek Valley forms not onh' an excellent means 
of entrance for the railroads from the west, but 
also an unsurpassed center for a sewerage sys- 
tem. The IMill Creek sewer is the largest in the 
world, and it receives and discharges into the 
Mississippi river from the southern portion of 
the city the sewerage and strong water of an 
area comprising 12,300 acres. The rapid growth 
of the city in every direction has made it neces- 
sary to lay off new sewer districts and to carry 
on an immense quantity of new work, but the 
demand has been fairly kept up with and there 
are now in the city nearly 400 miles of public 
and district sewers, with some twenty or thirty 
additional miles constructed every year. 

The city's finances are in a very 

healthy condition. The bonded 
FINANCES. ^|g,j^ Qj^ ,^j^j.ji 1^)^!^^ ;^gf)2^ ^^^ 

821,524,680, which was reduced duringtheyear 
by about $150,000.* Of this sum $135,000 was 



*Since the above was written the bonded ind' btedness 
has been still further reduced, and now amounts to about 
$21,200,000. 



SOCIAL ADVANTAGES. 



115 



furnished by the sinking fund, and more than 
$ i;3/)()0 by premiums on the four per cent renewal 
bonds, wliich were placed in Loudon. These 
bonds, redeemable in twenty )ears and bearing in- 
terest at four per cent, were placed at §101.15, and 
during this year ( 1893 ) bonds of similar charac- 
ter to the extent of |!l,250,000 were placed in 
London at par. This latter transaction was, 
taking into account the condition of the money 
market, even a greater achievement than that of 
1892, and shows dearly how the credit of St. 
Louis stands abroad. The total reduction in 
the bonded debt within the last five years has 
amounted to over $600,000, and the annual in- 
terest charges have been reduced during that 
period from $1,131,099 to less than $1,000,000. 



The credit of New St. Louis is shown by the 
rapid decrease in the interest it is compelled to 
pay on its debt. In 1888 the interest paid 
varied from seven to four per cent, and averaged 
nearly six per cent. The average in 1889 was 
five per cent, and now it is about four and a half 
per cent. The city taxation is at the rate of 
forty cents per $100 for the payment of debt and 
interest, and varies from one dollar to sixty cents 
for general purposes. Considering the immense 
amount of new public work made necessary by 
the city's growth and now actually in hand, the 
rate of taxation is exceedingly low, and may be 
mentioned as one of the inducements offered to 
manufacturers and others on tlie lookout for a 
location. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SOCIAL ADVANTAGES.* 

A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH AND ITS CAUSES.-EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES.-ART.-LIBRARIES.- 
CHURCHES.-MUSIC.-THEATERS.-CLUBS.-HOTELS.-BENCH AND BAR.— 

MEDICAL.-JOURNALISM. 




E\V ST. LOUIS is a cosmopolitan city, 
not only in regard to its population, but 
also in the matter of its achievements. 
If this history has accomplished its pur- 
pose, it has established the fact that 
New St. Louis is one of the most im- 
portant manufacturing centers in the world; that 
it is the center of the most fertile region in Amer- 
ica; that its railroad facilities are tmsurpassed 
and in many respects unapproached; that it has 
the best rapid transit street car service in America; 
that its financial institutions are absolutely be- 
yond suspicion and reproach; that it has prac- 
tically reconstructed itself by wholesale building 

*The reader is also referred to the Chapters on Mu- 
nicipal Achievements and ou New Biiildiutjs. Only those 
social advantages not included in preceding chapters are 
dealt with here. 



and rebuilding, and that in municipal matters 
generally it has been the pioneer in almost 
countless reforms and improvements. The 
space allotted for a historical sketch of New 
St. Louis has already been exceeded, but the 
subject cannot be left without a passing refer- 
ence to the social advantages, which are quite as 
conspicuous as those of a strictly mercantile and 
financial character. The city has fully appreci- 
ated the philosophy contained in the couplet: 

111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. 

Hence it has not overlooked movements which 
are calculated rather to make men healthy and 
wise than strictly wealthy; and a large measure 
of success has attended the efforts thus made. 
There are still many reforms needed, and it 



116 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



would be idle to attempt to argue that New 
St. Louis is a model city. At the same time it 
compares most favorably with auy other large 
city in the world, and although the pessimist is 
always abroad, many of his complaints and 
laments result rather from the expectation of the 
impossible, than any serious neglect or omission. 
We have already seen that St. Louis is the 
healthiest large city in the world. Various 
causes have combined to curtail its death-rate 
and to give it a clean bill of health. In the 
first place, the location of the city is favorable in 
the extreme. Scientists have of late derived 
much satisfaction from calling attention to the 
fact that the Mississippi river runs up hill, its 
source being nearer the earth's center than its 
mouth. If this is so, all the hill-climbing is 
done before St. Louis is reached, because the 
city directrix is 412 feet higher than the mean 
tide-mark of the Gulf of Mexico. The city is 
built on rising ground averaging many feet 
higher than the directrix, and hence although 
St. Louis cannot be described as a mountain 
city, it is certainly not a lowland town. 
Its climate is delightful in the extreme, the 
friendly shelter of mountains and hills pro- 
tects it from cyclones and other dangerous wind 
storms, and its location seems to guarantee to it 
immunity from the intense heat of the South 
and bitter cold of the North. The mean tem- 
peratures for the last half century are eighty de- 
grees for July, seventy-six degrees for August, 
and thirty-one degrees for January. The max- 
imum temperature for a year rarely exceeds 
ninety-five, and very seldom approaches a hun- 
dred. The average daily maximum for July, the 
hottest month in the year, has been about eighty- 
eight during the last six or eight years; while the 
average minimum for the same month has been 
about eighteen degrees lower. It is important to 
bear these figures in mind, because during ex- 
ceptionally warm spells a great deal is apt to be 
said about excessive heat, although it is a 
remarkable fact that the maximum temperature 
of St. Louis for a year is generally lower than 
that of cities some hundreds of miles further 
north, just as the minimum temperature is gen- 



erally higher than that recorded for cities much 
more southern. In other words, the climate of 
St. Louis, as a rule, is equable and healthy, and 
as a health resort the city is entitled to more 
than a passing word of praise. 

The health of the city has 
also been maintained by the 



aOOD WATER 
AND PURE AIR. 



excellence of the water supply. 
Efforts which can only l)e described as superhu- 
man have been made from time to time to show 
that St. Louis water is contaminated and unfit 
for drinking purposes. These efforts have been 
crowned with uniform and signal failure, and the 
fact has also been established that in the rare 
event of an epidemic the greatest suffering is 
always in houses which depend for their water 
supply on cisterns and wells. Even now, over- 
taxed as are the water-works, the supply of 
water is more than satisfactory; and when the 
new settling-tanks and filter-beds are in opera- 
tion, St. Louis will have a water supply as good 
as that of any large city in the world and above 
the possibility of suspicion. 

Like all manufacturing cities, St. Louis suffers 
from the emission into the ai,r of large volumes 
of what is known to the law as "dense black" 
and "thick gray smoke." A writer in the 
AVrf England Magazine for January, 1892, says 
that "within ten years the temporary and ex- 
asperating evil of smoke from bituminous coal 
will be in a great part removed." The writer 
overlooked the fact that Old St. Louis has given 
place to New, and although only two years have 
elapsed since the able article from which the ex- 
tract is taken was written, the smoke nuisance 
has already been very largely remedied and re- 
moved. Too much credit can scarcely be accorded 
the Citizens' Smoke Abatement Association for 
its work in this direction. The leading spirits in 
the movement, to which reference has already 
been made, have been Messrs. L. D. Kingsland, 
Clark H. Sampson, Samuel M. Kennard, A. D. 
Brown, E. D. Meier, C. H. Huttig, and other 
manufacturers and merchants, while Prof. W. 
B. Potter, one of the best known mining en- 
gineers and metallurgists in the United States, 
has lent to the movement the knowledge gained 



SOCIAL ADVANTAGES. 



117 



by many years' experimenting and testing. The 
first step taken by the association was to satisfy 
itself that smoke can be abated, even when bi- 
tuminous coal is used, without the slightest 
hindrance to manufacture or commerce. This 
fact being finally established, it obtained leg- 
islation and inaugurated a canvass of the smoke- 
reducing plants of the city. Excluding hotels 
and private houses, several hundred offenders 
were listed, and moral suasion was brouglit to 
bear to prevail upon these to put in smoke- 
abatement devices without waiting for legal pro- 
ceedings. 

Already more than 500 grossly offending 
chimneys have ceased to deluge the air with 
smoke, and of the first 200 cases in which no- 
tice of prosecution was given, 195 secured a 
continuance, or rather a postponement, by pro- 
ducing satisfactory 'evidence that they had either 
abated the smoke or signed contracts to enable 
them to do so. Other experiments are being 
made with coke and smokeless coal; and al- 
though, as previously remarked, it is scarcely to 
be expected that St. Louis will ever be abso- 
lutely free from smoke, it is certain that long 
before the ten years aforesaid have expired, the 
city's attractiveness and healthiness will have 
been increased by the reduction of what has 
hitherto been almost a scandal, to nothing more 
than a sentimental grievance. 

During the New St. Louis pe- 
riod great progress has been made 
in the laying out and improving 
of the city parks. Thanks to the forethought 
of legislators in years gone by, the city has a 
better devised park system than that of any 
large city in the world. There are upwards of 
2,000 acres reserved for breathing grounds, and 
the best possible use is made of them. Forest 
Park, consisting of 1,371 acres, was purchased 
in 1874, and during the last few years it has 
been made far more attractive by the addition 
of a zoological department, while at the present 
time the project of raising a private fund for the 
erection of a museum in it is being seriously dis- 
cussed. The financial stringency of LSlt3 has 
naturally retarded the enterprise, but New St. 



THE CITY'S 
PARKS. 



Louis has never been known to fail in good 
work of this character, and there seems no doubt 
that in the early future the project will materi- 
alize satisfactorily. The eastern portion of 
Forest Park is laid out with delightful drive- 
ways, while the western portion is less culti- 
vated and possesses rural charms very attractive 
to the visitor. 

Tower Grove Park, consisting of some 26(5 
acres, is a more highly improved recreation 
ground. It is not only a favorite driveway, but 
it has some magnificent statues, presented to 
the city by Mr. Henry Shaw. These include 
the first bronze statue of Columbus ever erected 
in this country, and also other works of art of a 
costly and attractive nature. Adjoining Tower 
Grove Park is the Missouri Botanical Garden, 
known generally as Shaw's Garden, which was 
laid out by the deceased millionaire and be- 
queathed by him to the city. The garden cov- 
ers a space of about fifty acres, and is regarded 
as one of the finest botanical gardens in the 
world, attracting visitors from all sections. It 
was laid out without regard to expense, and is so 
richly endowed that it will be preserved for all 
time to come in its present magnificence. Its 
principal features are the main turf walk to the 
conservatory, the statue of Victory, the mauso- 
leum containing Henry Shaw's remains, the 
grand parterre, ornamented with flower-beds and 
statuary, the lotus ponds, water-lily ponds and 
show of water plants, the lodge for the garden 
pupils, a grand display of cacti, palms and 
exotics, the Linnean house, the summer house 
in the fruticetum, the willow pond in the arbo- 
retum grove and herbaceous grounds, the late 
residence of Henry Sliaw in the garden, the 
grape arbor in the fruticetum, and labyrinth. 

The other city parks include recreation grounds 
in every section of the city, easily accessible by 
street cars. They are not described at any 
length here, because most of them were acquired 
before New St. Louis commenced to assert its 
influence and displace the old regime. For the 
same reason but a passing tribute can be paid to 
the police department, wh.ich is admitted to be 
one of the most efficieut in the country, or to the 



118 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



WASHINQTON UNIVERSITY 
AND ITS WORK. 



fire department, wliich has no rival, and which 
has won praise from the chiefs of departments vis- 
iting St. Lonis from cities in almost every section 
of the world. 

In e d n c a t i o n a 1 

ma 1 1 e rs New St. 

lyonis has been as 
conscientionsly active as in those relating to 
wealth, health and comfort. It is a pleasing 
characteristic of the West that, no matter how 
rapid or spasmodic the growth of cities has been, 
the rights of the rising generation, in the matter 
of educational facilities, ha\e never been over- 
looked. This has been the case in a most 
marked degree in St. Louis, where the growth 
of the school system has fully kept pace with 
the phenomenal advance in other directions. 
The grandest educational institution in the 
city is the Washington University, which 
ranks among the very best colleges in the 
country. The charter under which the uni- 
versity was operated was signed by the gov- 
ernor of the State in 1853, on Washington's 
birthday. In the charter the institution thus 
formed was described as the Eliot Seminary, and 
later the name was changed to O' Fallon In- 
stitute. The constitution declared that the 
institution should comprise a collegiate depart- 
ment, a female seminary, a practical and scien- 
tific department, an industrial school, and such 
other departments as the board of directors 
might determine. It was also very discreetly 
ordained that there should be no instruction 
sectarian in religion or partisan in politics, and 
that no sectarian or partisan test should be used 
in the selection of professors or officers of the 
institute. It was specially desired by the sev- 
enteen men who formed the first board of direct- 
ors that the university should be known by the 
name of the first president, but Dr. Eliot ob- 
jected strongl}', and after considerable wavering 
the board adopted his view and the university 
was given the name by which it always has 
been known during its forty years of extreme 
usefulness. 

Dr. Eliot outlived nearly all of his colleagues 
on the original board of directors, remaining 



president of that body until'the year 1887, when 
his illustrious career was terminated by death. 
It is probable that if a vote could be taken on 
the question, a majority of the inhabitants of 
St. Louis would favor the name being changed 
back to the original appellation. The name 
"Washington" has been so largely adopted 
throughout the country for various purposes 
that it does not retain sufficient distinctive qual- 
ities to be a proper name for a large university 
in a central western city. There has, however, 
been little agitation of late on the question of 
name, the more important question of the possi- 
bility of having to move further west in order 
to obtain more accomurodation, having received 
more attention at the hands of the directors. 
The university is at present located on Wash- 
ington avenue at the summit of the first hill 
above the actual bluffs. The southern wing of 
the building and the chemical laboratory were 
erected in IS.")."), and about the same time the 
Polytechnic Building was erected on the corner 
of Seventh and Chestnut streets for further 
work in connection with the university, espe- 
cially in its industrial department. The Poly- 
technic Building still stands, though it has 
passed out of the hands of educational directors 
and is now occupied by the Real Estate Ex- 
change and by real estate firms. At a compar- 
atively early date the building is likely to be 
torn down and replaced by a more lofty and 
more modern structure, better adapted for the 
purposes of commerce and finance. 

The Polytechnic Building was nearly nine 
years in erection, and its final cost, including 
the site, was $400, (MX). In the meantime the 
outbreak of the war had hampered the univer- 
sity's finances, and the institution found itself in 
delit with a building on its hands entirely un- 
suited for the purpose for which it was con- 
structed. In 18(J8 the building was sold to the 
St. Louis Board of Education for $280,000, and 
with the money thus obtained the university 
proper began to make up for the time lost by 
the war and the mistake made in the designs of 
the Polytechnic. Mr. William Chouvenat was 
then chancellor, and during his administration 



SOCIAL ADVANTAGES. 



119 



the university made great progress. The Mary 
Institute, organized in 185!l, had already been 
established on a firm footing, and the Poly- 
technic School, with technical courses in engi- 
neering and chemistry, was formed. In 1870 
Chancellor Chouvenat died, and Dr. Eliot as- 
sumed the duties of chancellor as well as presi- 
dent. He lived to see the dream of his youth 
very largely carried out. The Swift Academy 
Ijecame separated from the undergraduate depart- 
ment and was established in a buiklingof its own. 

The Manual Training School, admitted to be 
one of the finest of its class in the world, was 
established on a firm footing, and has since 
attained popularity which has made it more 
than famous. The St. Louis Medical School is 
one of the many branches of the university; 
and by the will of Henry Shaw a school of 
botany has been endowed with facilities for 
studying botany unexcelled in any institution in 
the world. As already stated, Dr. Eliot died in 
1SS7. He was succeeded by Mr. G. E. Leigh- 
ton as president, and by Prof. W. S. Chapman 
as chancellor. There are between 1,000 and 
1,<500 students enrolled in the university, and 
there is every probability of a scheme material- 
izing at an early date whereby the institution 
will move out in the suburbs and build for itself 
a larger home, more suitable in every way for 
the carrying out of the great work inaugurated by 
some of St. Louis' greatest men forty years ago. 

The Washington Observatory in connection 
with the university is one of the most impor- 
tant in the world. It gives time, to use the 
technical expression, to thousands of public, 
railroad and other clocks, regulating the official 
time and correcting it to actual time over a laro;er 
area than any other observatory i^i the world, 
with the single exception of that of Greenwich, 
near London, England, from which the degrees 
of longitude are calculated. 

The School of Fine Arts in 
connection with the university 
has its home in a very appropriate 
and attractive building situated 
at Eighteenth and Locust streets. A histor)' 
of the early strugo'les of art and artists in this 



THE MUSEUM 

OP 

FINE ARTS. 



city would be of great interest, but it is impossi- 
ble to handle it in this place in a manner satis- 
factory to experts. Just before the war the 
Western Academy of Arts was established, with 
]\Ir. Henry T. Blow as its first president. The 
outbreak of hostilities put a stop to the career 
of the academy, and it was not until 1872 that 
another attempt was made. In the latter year 
the Art Society was established, with Mr. 
Thomas Richcson as president. By this society 
many of the unique specimens on view in the 
reading-room of the Public Library were col- 
lected and donated. The society ceased to have 
any practical influence after 1878. In 1877 the 
St. Louis Sketch Club was established, and in 
1878 Mrs. John D. Henderson formed and opened 
a school of design. 

In 1881 the School of Fine Arts in connection 
with Washington University was finally estab- 
lished, in pursuance of the plan originally de- 
termined upon by the founders of the institution. 
Prior to this date the School of Fine Arts had 
been announced, but the year 1881 saw it located 
in a permanent home. On the 10th of May, 
1881, Mr. Wa}-man Crow, than whom a more 
loyal St. Louisan never lived, donated to the 
university the magnificent structure known as 
the St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts. When this 
home for the preservation of the beautiful was 
constructed, Lncas place, as it was then called, 
was exclusively a residence locality. Since then 
its name has been changed to Locust street, and 
factory after factory has been erected on its 
frontage lines. In the midst of these monu- 
ments to commercial progress the museum 
stands out in bold relief as an exponent of an 
entirely different idea, and also a different style 
of architecture. The auditorium will seat nearly 
1,000 people, and the five galleries are graced 
with many works of art which would have been 
lost to St. Louis but for the princely generosity 
of Mr. Wayman Crow and the zeal of those who 
have watched over the museum with almost 
tender solicitude. Prof. Halsey C. Ives, who 
has been connected with art movements in 
St. Louis for many years, is now at work on a 
project of far greater magnitude than any he has 



120 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



yet identified himself with, and stndents and 
lovers of art will have no canse to consider 
themselves neglected or overlooked. 

The influence of Washington University and 
the numerous institutions connected with it has 
been of immense value to St. Louis in every 
way. Mention has been made in the mercantile 
chapters of this work of the importance of ce- 
menting the relations between St. Louis and the 
Spanish-American republics. This work is be- 
ing done, not only by the agency of St. Louis 
business men and their representatives traveling 
throughout the countries named, but also by the 
education of quite a large number of Mexican 
young men at Washington University. Al- 
though there are no arrangements for students 
to board in the institution, a very large number 
of non-resident students are alwa\'s enrolled, 
and these find convenient board accommodation 
close to the great seat of learning. Among the 
prominent business and professional men of St. 
Louis a singularly large percentage graduated 
from the University on Washington avenue, and 
this is also the case of many of the leading men 
of Missouri and adjoining States. The exact 
location of the future home of the university is 
in doubt at the present time, but its future is 
assured. No institution of St. Louis has done 
more to make the city famous and respected. 

The public school system 
of St. Louis ranks among 
the very best in the world. 
At the Columbian Exposition exhibits from these 
schools obtained eleven highest awards, and the 
exhibits attracted so much attention that a large 
number of visitors to the Fair, including officials 
from several States, visited St. Louis before 
returning to their homes for the express purpose 
of familiarizing themselves with the methods 
which had so excited their admiration. The 
triumph at the World's Fair was by no means a 
surprise to those who have taken an interest in 
the St. Louis schools, because the city has been 
looked upon for years as the pioneer in advanced 
studies for the masses, and the St. Louis system, 
as it is frequently called, has been adopted by a 
large number of the best cities in the country. 



THE PUBLIC 
SCHOOL SYSTEM. 



Without attempting a detailed history of the rise 
and progress of the public schools of St. Louis it 
may be said that their earliest triumphs were 
achieved during the administration of Dr. Wm. 
T. Harris, who was for twenty years connected 
with our public schools, and who has since made 
an international reputation as United States edu- 
cational commissioner. His work in connection 
with the public schools was of the noblest possi- 
ble character, and the excellent plan that he 
formulated and popularized, has not been mate- 
rially varied since he left the city. 

The chief difficulty with which his successors 
have had to contend, has been in the rapid 
increase in the number of applicants for admis- 
sion. In 1875 there were fifty-six school-houses 
in St. Louis, with about 30,000 seats. In 188G 
the number of houses had increased to 103, and 
the accommodation to a little over 42,000. In 
the last days of Old St. Louis, the sitting accom- 
modation of the public schools was about 4.j,000, 
which was increased very rapidly to 50,000, 
which was the return in the early part of 1889. 
In 1890 there were 111 school-houses with 51,()45 
seats. In 1891 additions to the existing schools 
provided accommodation for nearly 2,000 more 
scholars, and in 1892 the opening of new 
schools increased the seats to nearly 57,000. At 
the present time the demand for new schools is 
being met as rapidly as possible, and during the 
first quarter of the school year 1893-94, the 
attendance reached 61,252, an increase of 3,400 
on the preceding quarter. Despite the efforts of 
the authorities, 365 children were unable to find 
sitting accommodation at the schools when the 
last report was issued, and although work is 
being continued in school building and enlarge- 
ment, the number of children grows so rapidly 
that great diflSculty is experienced in keeping 
up with the demand. 

It will be observed that during the last twent)- 
years the accommodation has been more than 
doubled, notwithstanding the fact that during 
that period a very large number of very excel- 
lent private schools have been established. 
Even during the New St. Louis era there has 
been an increase in school attendance of more 



SOCIAL ADVANTAGES. 



121 



FROI^ KINDERGARTEN 

TO 

THE "HIOH." 



than thirty-three per cent. It now costs more 
than $1 ,000, 000 a }-ear in teachers' salaries alone 
to maintain the teachers' staff; and it is notorious 
that St. Louis pays a higher grade of salaries 
for teachers than any other city, the desire be- 
ing to obtain the best possible tuition for chil- 
dren. The salaries range as high as $3,000 a 
year, and the system of advancement as a re- 
ward of merit has had the effect of keeping the 
best teachers in the city, and encouraging tal- 
ented instructors from every point to come to 
St. Louis. 

Commencing with the 
youngest children, refer- 
ence may be made to 
the kindergarten classes, 
at which the attendance exceeds 5,000. Kin- 
dergartens are established in nearly all the dis- 
trict schools, and it is about twenty years since 
the experiment was commenced. The kinder- 
garten, as found in St. Louis, is not a nursery, 
but is an attempt to instruct the little people in 
necessary study, and to lay the foundation of the 
education they will require in later years. Froe- 
bel's idea was to develop in each child the germ 
of intelligence, and the leading fundamental 
principle of his method is developed. " I see 
in every child," said he, "the possibilities of a 
perfect mind;" and this is the underlying prin- 
ciple of the kindergarten course in the St. Louis 
schools. The adoption of games makes it pos- 
siljle to accomplish the object without difficulty; 
and this is done with invariable success. The 
child is not only taught to distinguish between 
the colors and the different letters, figures and 
words, but it is also instructed in manners and 
polite habits, and to practice the etiquette and 
amenities of polite life. Prof. Long, who is now 
superintendent of the schools, entered very 
heartily into the spirit of his eminent predeces- 
sor, and the interest Mr. Long takes in the kin- 
dergarten department is largely responsible for 
the high state of efficiency which has been 
maintained. 

Children enter the kindergarten class at six, 
though they are often found as 3-ouug as five. 
The age at which they enter upon other depart- 



ments necessarily varies, but it is found that the 
influence of this early tuition remains through- 
out their entire educational period. The enroll- 
ment in the kindergarten schools now exceeds 
8,000, and it has been suggested frequently that 
a change should be made in the law so as to let 
the children commence at four, instead of six. 
Forty-iive schools have kindergartens connected 
with them, in six of which the children are al- 
lowed to attend all day, while in the remainder 
the children attend half a day only and thus 
increase the number of children able to obtain 
education in this preliminary but important 
branch. 

Li the intermediate and higher grades, a high- 
class education, fully equal to that obtained in 
comparatively costly academies and colleges is 
given. It is the desire and policy of the School 
Board that every pupil shall pass right through 
the course of study from the Kindergarten to 
the High, but when owing to accident or other- 
wise, a child has to leave school after passing 
through the early grades, he can fill a position 
often nearly as well as his more fortunate broth- 
ers. In addition to a full course in reading, 
writing, arithmetic and national history, each 
child has the benefit of a complete system of 
calisthenics and enlightened control of discipline, 
and a comprehensive arrangement of those lines 
of instruction indispensable to people who ha\e 
to make their own way in life. As in all manu- 
facturing cities, the children are apt to lea\'e 
school at too early an age, and one of the difficul- 
ties which has beset not only Prof. Harris, but 
also his successors, is how to crowd a full course 
of training which ought to occupy eight or ten 
years into five or six. Difficult as the task 
necessarily appears, it has been accomplished 
with great success, and the teachers deserve 
great credit for their triumphs in this direction. 
For those who are compelled to leave school 
prematurely, an excellent system of night 
schools is in operation, and some of the very 
best business colleges in the United States en- 
able young men and ladies to put the finishing 
strokes to what may be termed a commercial 
training. 



122 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS 
AND COLLEGES. 



The Normal and the High schools are uni- 
versities in ever^'thing but name, and those who 
are fortunate enough to be able to graduate from 
either can hold their own in almost any com- 
pany. A St. Louis Normal diploma gives an 
aiDplicant for a teacher's position exceptional 
advantage over his or her competitors, and many 
of the most successful principals in the country 
graduated from this favored city. There is 
also a Normal school for colored children who 
desire to adopt teaching as a profession; and edu- 
cation's good influence is felt in every class and 
by all people. 

In addition to the ad- 
miraljje public schools 
of the city, St. Louis 
has a parochial school system which does ex- 
cellent work. The city has grown so rapidly 
that the financial resources of the Board of Edu- 
cation have been taxed to the uttermost to keep 
pace with the growth in the number of children 
of school age, and were it not for the fact that 
the parochial schools take care of more than 
20,000 children, and give them a high-class 
education, it would have been impossible to 
make both ends meet. The Catholic population 
of St. Louis has not neglected its duty towards 
the rising generation, and the amount of money 
it has raised for the maintenance of parochial 
schools reflects the greatest credit upon its sin- 
cerity and liberality. 

There are more than forty parochial schools, 
employing nearly 200 teachers, and the average 
attendance is between 22,000 and 23,000. When 
parents are in a position to pay, a small tuition 
fee is charged, but a large percentage of the 
children are taught entirely free of charge. The 
teachers in the Catholic schools are taken from 
the ranks of the Christian Brothers, Sisters of 
Charity, Sisters of Mercy, and the members of 
various orders, and they are hence excep- 
tionally competent in the performance of their 
duties. The parochial school buildings are of 
an improved character, and are generally well 
ventilated and appointed. Children are received 
between the ages of six and fifteen, and when 
they have graduated they have an oiDportunity 



of entering one or another of the numerous 
Catholic colleges in the city. 

Without attempting to give a list of these col- 
leges and universities, one or two nuist be men- 
tioned as deserving of special praise. The 
Christian Brothers' College is perhaps the most 
prominent. The Christian Brothers came here 
from France nearly half a centiiry ago and 
established themselves at Eighth and Cerre 
streets. With the birth of New St. Louis the 
Brothers went west and purchased a ten-acre 
tract at the corner of Easton avenue and King's 
Highway, where they erected a building of 
brick and stone, designed in the shape of a cross, 
consisting of a central edifice and four wings. 
It has a frontage of 370 feet, a depth of 200 
feet and an elevation of 110 feet. In the center 
is a fine rotunda (30 feet square. Every modern 
convenience is provided. The college is a com- 
munity in itself, aiul its location, buildings and 
grounds are not excelled for educational pur- 
poses in the Mississippi Valley. It is easily ac- 
cessible by the Easton a\'enue cars fron: the 
heart of the city, and is just far enough out to 
combine rural and city life,. The curriculum 
comprises preparatory, commercial, collegiate, 
literary and scientific courses. There are gener- 
ally from 300 to 400 students at the college, and 
a corps of thirtv-three professors, all of whom 
with the exception of three are Christian Broth- 
ers, is engaged. 

The St. Louis University has been identified 
with St. Louis for nearly seventy years. It was 
originally located in a home constructed in the 
thirties on what is now known as Ninth and 
Christy avenue, but what was then looked upon 
as out in the woods. In 18()7 a much more 
suitable site was purchased on Grand avenue 
and Pine street, where there has been erected 
one of the grandest educational buildings in the 
United States. It has the form of a reversed L, 
the base line being on the left instead of the 
right side of the perpendicular. The front on 
Grand avenue measures 270 feet, and all that 
portion of the building is devoted to college 
purposes. The resident portion is further 
west. The immense structure is built of brick 



SOCIAL ADVANTAGES. 



123 



and stone, and its arcliitectnre is early decorated 
English Gothic. It has a magnificent museum, 
fine laboratory and library, and all the adjuncts 
of a thoroughly equipped college, including a 
lecture-room with seating capacity of 500. The 
college has an attendance of about 350, and its 
instructors are Jesuit Fathers. 

It would be interesting, if space permitted, to 
mention in detail the various schools and edu- 
cational institutions of St. Louis; but this 
being impossible, the subject must be dismissed 
with the statement that few cities in the world 
are more thoroughly equipped for educational 
purposes than St. Louis. Men can be trained 
for the highest professions; and the higher 
education of women has been remembered and 
provided for in a manner which disarms criticism 
at the threshold. 

The libraries of St. 
LIBRARIES, ^ . ., 

Louis, II not so numer- 

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. . ,, ^ ^.^ 

ous as some of those to 

be found in the older cities of the East, make 
up in efficiency and completeness what they 
lack in numbers. Many of the city's promi- 
nent men have private libraries of the grandest 
type, and the city has two public lil^raries which 
are an honor to the municipality and a constant 
source of profit and entertainment to the stu- 
dent and searcher after knowledge. The Mer- 
cantile Library will soon celebrate its semi- 
centennial. It has now nearly, if not quite, a 
hundred thousand valuable volumes, although 
its first report speaks with gratification of the 
possession of less than two thousand. Under 
the al)le management of Mr. John M. Dyer, 
one of the best librarians the country has seen, 
the lil^rary grew and prospered, and the dream 
of that gentleman's life was realized some 
four or five years ago when the new fire-proof 
building at the corner of Sixth and Locust 
was erected as a safe home for the priceless 
treasures owned by the association. A statue of 
Mr. Dyer in the library serves as a painful re- 
minder that he died of overwork in connection 
with moving and rearranging the books in their 
new home. 

Forty years ago the library built what was 



then regarded as a very fine hall, which was 
used for con\ention purposes again and again. 
It became out of date with the birth of New St. 
Louis, and the present building is more in keep- 
ing with the demands of the times. It is a very 
handsome six-story building of Romanesque 
character. The library halls are twenty feet in 
height, and the arrangements are complete in 
every detail. 

The Public Library, which in the year 1894 
will be made a free library in the full sense of 
the term, is a child of the School Board. For 
many j'ears it was known as the Public School 
Library, but more recently it has been known as 
the Public Library, and greater effort has been 
made to popularize it with the public. It had 
its home for twenty-five years in the Polytechnic 
Building, purchased, occupied and finally sold 
by the School Board after a series of blunders 
which w'ill be remembered as long as St. Louis 
remains a city. The library is now located in a 
lofty building at the corner of Ninth and Locust 
streets, which has already been described in this 
work. The number of books on its shelves does 
not differ materially from that at the Mercantile 
Library. 

The St. Louis Law Library contains the best 
collection of legal works to be found in the West. 
More than tweh-e thousand volumes of standard 
legal authors, as well as other works, are to be 
found, and the records of decisions in different 
States is complete in the extreme. The libra- 
ries at the St. Louis and Washington universi- 
ties have a reputation extending over the entire 
country; and the Odd Fellows' Library contains 
• a collection of books of inestimable value. 

St. Louis, while it 
CHURCHES AND ' . , 

cannot compete with 
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. ^ , . . ,, ,.,, 

Brooklyn for the title 

of the "City of Churches," is still admirably 

equipped with religious edifices of all characters 

and denominations. The gradual tendency of 

recent years has been to go west, and church 

after church has found a new location and anew 

home on the suburban side of Grand avenue. 

There are now about three hundred churches in 

St. Louis, many of them most magnificent in 



124 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



character. The old Catholic Cathedral on Wal- 
nut street, between Second and Third, is in a 
wonderful state of preservation. Its corner-stone 
was laid sixty-two years ago, and the Cathedral 
was opened fifty-nine years since. The exterior 
shows evidences of the ravages of time, but it is 
still in excellent condition, and the interior is as 
beautiful as ever. When first erected it was by 
far the finest structure devoted to religious pur- 
poses west of the Alleghany mountains, and it 
is still among the most interesting, if not the 
most magnificent, religions edifices in the coun- 
try. The interior is di\-ided into a nave and 
two aisles, the double row of dividing columns 
being in Doric style and built of brick covered 
with stucco. 

The Rock Church, or, more properly, St. Al- 
phonsus', on Grand avenue and Finney, is really 
a second cathedral. It was erected by the Re- 
demptorist Fathers, many of whom actually 
performed manual labor on the structure while 
in course of erection. It is one of the special 
features of the city to which the attention of 
visitors is called, and it is one of the most hand- 
some cathedral churches in the West. 

The Episcopal Cathedral is also a credit to the 
city. The first parish of the Episcopal Church 
west of the Mississippi river was organized in 
l<Siy, when the population of St. Louis was only 
abont 4,000. From that time the Episcopal 
Church in St. Louis has grown both in the num- 
ber of its edifices, in its influence and in its 
church membership. In ISd? the present ca- 
thedral, on Fourteenth and Locust streets, was 
erected, and about five years ago it became the 
spiritual home of the diocese of Missouri. Aided 
by a magnificent endowment from an unknown 
source the church has been placed in a sound 
financial condition, and subsequently a donation 
of $1'),00U has been made for the purpose of 
erecting a cathedral home or mission. The 
conditions of this latter donation ha\'e just been 
fulfilled. 

Among the numerous Episcopalian churches 
in the city may be mentioned the Holy Com- 
nmnion, St. George's and St. Mark's Memorial 
and St. Peter's, although this is but a very par- 



S ACRED EDIFICES 

WITH 

INTERESTING HISTORIES. 



tial record and does not atteinpt to particularize. 
The Presbyterian churches are also numerous. 
The First Presbyterian Church of St. Louis was 
the first church of that denomination established 
west of the Mississippi river. This church was 
erected in 182.'j, and has only recently been de- 
molished. Its successor has its home on Wash- 
ington avenue and Sarah street, in a much more 
pretentious building erected five years ago. The 
Second Presbyterian Church, on Seventeenth and 
Locust streets, is a comparatively old building, 
ha\-ing been erected prior to the war at an ex- 
penditure of $;)0,0()0. It is in an excellent 
state of preservation, and is looked upon as a 
very representative church. The same denom- 
ination has a splendid structure on Grand ave- 
nue, near Olive street, and a number of other 
churches. 

The :\Iethodist- 
Episcopal denomina- 
tion made a splendid 
showing in a religious 
census recently taken. The Trinity Church, 
erected in llS.")?, and originally known as the 
Simpson Chapel, holds the record of having 
been the only Northern Methodist church which 
held services regularly throughout the war. 
This was not the first church in St. Louis of the 
denomination, whose record goes back as far as 
the eighteenth century. The Rev. John Clark 
preached in St. Louis in 17i»<S, and about twenty 
years later the Rev. Jesse Walker established a 
Methodist-Episcopal church in the city. This 
church eventually connected itself with the 
Southern branch of the denomination. The 
other Methodist churches in St. Louis include 
some edifices, not only of great influence, but 
also of interest in historical records. Among 
them may be mentioned the Centenary, at Six- 
teenth and Pine streets; St. John's, at Locust 
street and Ewing avenue, and others, some be- 
longing to the Methodist-Episcopal Church, 
North, and others to the Methodist-Episcopal 
Church, South, both denominations being sup- 
ported by prominent and influential citizens. 

The Second Baptist Church, on Locust and 
Beaumont streets, ma)- be regarded as the home 



SOCIAL ADVANTAGES. 



125 



of the earliest Baptist congregation of St. Louis. 
The present magnificent structure, with its ex- 
cellent appointments, dates only from 187!*, but 
the congregation which worships in it claims 
nnich greater antiquity. The Baptists enjoy the 
honor of having been the first to build a Prot- 
estant church in this country west of the Mis- 
sissippi river, they having completed a sacred 
edifice near Jackson, in Cape Girardeau county, 
nearly ninety years ago. The same denomina- 
tion has in St. Louis a church on Grand avenue 
at the corner of Washington, and another on 
the same avenue, but much farther north. It is 
also well represented elsewhere in the city. 

The oldest religious Hebrew association in 
the city is the United Hebrew Congregation, 
which erected a s^-nagogue just before the war 
on Sixth street, between Locust and St. Charles. 
The building was subsequently sold and con- 
verted into a commercial establishment, the 
congregation moving to Olive and Twenty-first 
streets. More recently it, or rather members 
originally connected with it, have erected Temjjle 
Israel and Shaare Emeth, both known as repre- 
sentative and handsome churches. 

The Church of the Messiah, presided over by 
one of the ablest orators and writers in the West, 
represents the Unitarian idea in St. Louis. This 
church was erected in 1879 and 1880, the build- 
ing being finally dedicated in December, 1881. 
In style it is early English Gothic, the blue 
limestone being relieved by horizontal strands 
of sandstone, which material is also used for the 
window and door trimmings. 

Such is a brief record of the churches con- 
nected with the leading denominations in St. 
Louis. All that has been attempted has been 
to show that the social advantages include ample 
provision for spiritual training. 

The value of good music 
has been thoroughly appreci- 
ated in New St. Louis, and the 
best of conscientious music as compared with 
the purely commercial article is rapidly obtain- 
ing the appreciation it deserves. The old Phil- 
harmonic Society spent several thousand dollars 
in its efforts to revolutionize music and to send 



NEW ST. LOUIS 
AND MUSIC. 



out missionaries into the homes, churches and 
institutions of the city and give a higher tone to 
instrumental and vocal music generally. 

The Choral Society is more strictly a New 
St. Louis organization, and it has done splendid 
work for St. Louis, although it is to be regretted 
that much of the expense has been borne by 
private individuals, whose modesty lias prevented 
the public becoming acquainted with the debt it 
owes them. During the last fourteen years the 
society has spent sufficient money to bring to 
St. Louis the very best soloists in the country, 
and its work has been so successful that the 
production of the " Messiah " in Christmas 
week of 18I»;i, with Miss Enrma Juch and other 
singers of national reputation as soloists, is ex- 
pected to be one of the finest productions of this 
great oratorio ever heard in this country. This 
will be the twelfth production of the " Messiah" 
in St. Louis; and it is safe to say that for many 
years to come this magnificent inspiration will 
be heard in the western and southwestern metrop- 
olis during Christmas week. The society is 
educating public tastes so rapidly that it is be- 
coming self-supporting. In 18!>1 the sum of 
$r),4()0 had to be raised to meet the deficiency 
caused by the engagement of high-class talent. 
In the season of 1892-93 the deficit was only 
$3,(iOO, which was promptly made up, and the 
indications are that the season of 1893— 94 will 
be about self-supporting. 

The influence of the society has been felt in 
public institutions of every character. The 
singing in the churches in St. Louis is now ex- 
ceptionally fine, and the same may be said of 
several of the local institutions. In another 
way the Philharmonic and Choral societies have 
shown their influence. Old St. Louis had a 
reputation among advance agents as being an 
excellent town for concert companies to miss. 
New St. Louis, thanks largely to the Choral 
Society, has a very different reputation, for any 
good company can secure a crowded house. 
During the thirty days between April 12 and 
May 12, 1893, there were eleven high-class con- 
certs in St. Louis, and these received the sum of 
$15,000 as a reward for their excellence. 



126 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



THEATERS 

AND 

CONCERT HALLS. 



As an ainusement center 
generally St. Louis has a 
high reputation. IMention 
has alread)- been made of the 
special attractions provided during the autum- 
nal festival period, and a record has been made 
of the early struggles of the first theater con- 
structed in the city. There are now six thor- 
oughly equipped first-class theaters in the city, 
with a seating capacity of more than 12,000, 
independent of the (J, 000 seats in the two halls 
within the Exposition Building. For six sea- 
sons in succession five of these theaters have 
been well supported, and the best theatrical tal- 
ent of the country has lieen seen at them. St. 
Louis' patronage has been also liberal enough to 
attract the best actors of foreign countries tour- 
ing in America, and the appreciation of high- 
class histrionic work is proverbial. At the 
Olympic Theater, on Broadway, opposite the 
Southern Hotel, Joseph Jefferson, Edwin Booth, 
Lawrence Barrett and Fanny Davenport may be 
mentioned among leaders in the profession who 
have played very successful engagements. The 
Grand Opera House, is equally popular, and 
here also some of the greatest performers of the 
day have been seen. In addition to the best 
American actors and actresses, such consi^icuous 
figures in the theatrical world of other nations 
as Sarah Bernhardt and Wilson Barrett have 
been seen repeatedly. The orchestra of the 
Grand is exceptionally good, and, like the Olym- 
pic, the theater is first-class in every respect. 

Among the newer bids for the support of the 
theater-going fraternity may be mentioned the 
Hagan Opera House, erected about two years 
ago. The Hagan is a novelty in more ways 
than one. The construction and plan invoh'ed 
a maximum of common sense and convenience, 
while the management, in going as far west as 
Tenth street, showed an ability to read the signs 
of the times, which subsequent patronage has 
proved to have been exceedingly valuable. The 
newest of St. Louis' first-class theaters is the 
Germania, which is still farther west, being sit- 
uated at the corner of Fourteenth and Locust 
streets. Here are represented German plays of 



high character, and the patronage of the house 
is a tribute to the power of appreciation of the 
German element in St. Louis' population, an 
element which has done so much to maintain the 
stability of the city. 

St. Louis is also exceedingly well cared for in 
the matter of summer opera. The oldest sum- 
mer-garden theater in St. Louis is LHrrig's Cave, 
which dates from six or seven years prior to the 
war. During the summer evenings light opera 
is produced here by companies of established 
reputation, and empty seats are seldom seen. 
Close to the Cave is the Pickwick Theater, a 
favorite house of the numerous amateurs of 
promise of St. Louis. On the south side Schnai- 
der's Garden, with its commodious and indeed 
luxurious sunnner theater, provides entertain- 
ment for dwellers in the southern wards. The 
new Sportsman's Park is also so arranged as to 
make it available for operatic and spectacular 
performances during the summer evenings. In 
the southern portion of the city Liederkranz 
Hall is very popular for high-class entertain- 
ments, and there are now in course of construc- 
tion several additions to the entertainment halls 
and ball-rooms of the city. 

New St. Louis is rich in the 

extreme in the matter of clubs. 

Of the Commercial, the ]\Iercan- 
tile and the Noonday clubs mention has already 
been made. The two latter have been spoken 
of more in their business or commercial aspects, 
but thev are also important factors in the society 
appointments of this great city. Since moving 
into its new building the Mercantile has carried 
the war into Africa in a most dexterous manner. 
From time, the memory whereof man knoweth 
not, ladies Iiave looked upon clubs as their natural 
enemies, and ha\-e censured their sweethearts 
and husbands in no mild terms for allowing the 
luxuries of the smoking and billiard-room to 
lure them frum the fireside in winter, or the 
front-door step in summer. The directors of 
the Mercantile, who it is not suggested have 
been censured in like manner as the immense 
majoritv of their fellow-men, decided to disarm 
the criticism of the ladies by making them, 



CLUBS AND 
CLUB LIFE. 



SOCIAL ADl'ANTAGES. 



127 



as it were, particcps criim'iiis. To do this, they 
fitted up ladies' rooms in the most hixurious 
style, and not only made it admissible for mem- 
bers to bring their own, or other men's, sisters 
to the club, but even encouraged them to do so. 
Hence, the Mercantile Club, in addition to being 
one of the most influential commercial organiza- 
tions in the West, is also one of the most de- 
lightful society and social clubs in the world, as 
popular with the wives and daughters of mem- 
bers as most clubs are unpopular. Mr. George 
D. Barnard, the president of the club, has 
earned much praise by his able completion of 
the work of reconstruction which was com- 
menced and carried on so zealously by his pred- 
ecessor, Mr. J. B. Case. 

The St. lyouis Club is luxurious in its appoint- 
ments, and has an air of exclusiveness about it 
which is in accordance with the ideal of high- 
toned club life. Its home is in a magnificent 
building on the southwest corner of Ewing ave- 
nue and Locust street, and its four hundred 
members include representative men of every 
type which can be regarded as consistent with 
the requirements of the upjier-ten. 

The Fair Grounds Jockey Club has its home 
inside the Fair Grounds, and is a popiUar resort, 
especially in the summer-time. Its membership 
is very large, and its banqueting hall is taken 
advantage of frequently for the purposes of en- 
tertaining strangers. Had a phonograph been 
inserted in the walls of this hall it could have 
bottled up enough eloquence to have educated 
the rising generation from time to time on 
almost every point of interest and importance. 

The University Club was erected by scholars 
for scholars, and all the learning and erudition 
of the city is represented within its walls. Its 
nrembers can talk in a greater number of lan- 
guages than the men who commenced to erect 
the Tower of Babel. Of recent years the quali- 
fications of members, so far as University gradu- 
ation is concerned, has been relaxed, and there 
are now several members who confess to knowing 
little Latin and less Greek. The club continues 
to be a high-toned social organization, popular 
in the extreme with gentlemen of refined tastes. 



EXCLUSIVE 
ORGANIZATIONS. 



The Marquette Club has 
its home in a very attractive 
and suitable building on 
Grand avenue and Pine street. The constitu- 
tion of the club states that its primary objects 
are to unite the prominent Catholic gentlemen 
of St. Louis and vicinity in bonds of social union ; 
to organize them into a body that shall repre- 
sent, watch over, vindicate and further Catholic 
interests; to establish it in an unobjectionable 
club-house, and by placing the club on a lasting 
basis to perpetuate a union of Catholics in the 
city of St. Louis. The club has carried out its 
original object very successfully. 

The Harmonic Club was established in the 
forties by several of the then prominent Hebrew 
citizens of St. Louis. The club is still some- 
what of a religious institution, though it is a very 
high-class social club. It rents a fine building 
on the corner of Eighteenth and Olive streets, 
and it is its proud boast that bonds and in- 
debtedness of any kind are absolutely unknown 
to the club or its management. The Columbia 
Club has just completed a very handsome build- 
ing on Lindell boulevard, just west of Vande- 
venter avenue, in which l^i-') members will 
establish themselves and run a club similar in 
every respect to the Harmonie. 

The Union Club has a home on the south side, 
at Lafayette and Jefferson avenues, in which 
there is crowded more provision for home com- 
fort than has perhaps ever been seen under one 
roof before. Every club is established to fill a 
long-felt want, but few of them have done their 
work so thoroughly as the Union, wdiich in its 
new location is a distinct boon to residents 
on the south side. The new building is quite 
unique, both externally and internally, and every 
memljcr is individually proud of it. 

The Liederkrauz is also a south side club. 
It owns a very handsome building on Chouteau 
avenue and Thirteenth street, and its member- 
ship of 6.")0 includes some of the most able 
singers in the city. The German element pre- 
dominates strongly, and there are in addition to 
large and small entertainment and rehearsal 
halls, dining-rooms and club apartments of every 



128 



OLD AND NEW ST. LOUIS. 



HOTELS AND 

A ccommoDA tions 

FOR GUESTS. 



character. Liederkranz concerts and entertain- 
ments are ahva\s leading social events. 

Only members of the Order of Elks are eligi- 
ble for the Elks Clnb, which has its home in 
the Hagaii Opera Bnilding, on Pine and Tenth 
streets. There are about a hundred members 
who make use of the club, both for business and 
social purposes. Athletics of every description 
are encouraged by the management, and the 
club has also a special reputation for hospitality, 
very elegant suppers being tendered to visitors 
to the city, especially those who have made a 
reputation elsewhere in their respective pro- 
fessions. 

There are also several very successful ladies' 
athletic and c^xling clubs and semi-religious 
associations. 

The autumnal festivities 
attracts so inany visitors 
that during the fall season 
the hotel accommodations 
of St. I^ouis of recent j-ears have been found 
scarcely adequate, and in order to increase the 
facilities for taking care of large carnival and 
convention crowds, the $2,000,000 hotel al- 
ready described is being constructed. It will be 
opened in the course of a few months, and will 
make«the down-town hotel facilities very com- 
plete. The Southern Hotel, a substantial fire- 
proof structure, has for many years been re- 
garded as the leading hotel in the city and 
among the foremost in the West, its rotunda 
being one of the most extensive in existence. 
The Lindell Hotel, a few blocks farther north, 
is another establishment first-class in every re- 
spect. The Laclede Hotel is looked upon as an 
ideal family hotel, and is also exceedingly popu- 
lar with politicians of every shade. The num- 
ber of caucuses that have been held in and 
around it is very large, and the hotel manage- 
ment has a reputation extending from Maine to 
California for going out of its way to accom- 
modate individual visitors and delegations in 
every conceivable manner. Adjoining the La- 
clede is Hurst's new hotel, another very fine 
structure; and nearly opposite the Lindell is the 
Hotel Barnum, a very popular house. 



The tendency to move westward, which has 
resulted from the rapid transit facilities, has 
also been marked in the hotels. A few years 
ago the idea of first-class hotels west of Twelfth 
street would have been ridiculed, but now there 
is on Fortieth street, or Vandeventer avenue, a 
hotel known as the West End, whose appoint- 
ments are first-class in every respect, and which 
is very popular both as a hotel proper and a 
family boarding-house. On Grand avenue the 
Hotel Beers and Grand Avenue Hotel are further 
exponents of this western idea; and early in the 
ensuing spring another very handsome edifice 
for hotel jDurposes is to be erected on the same 
thoroughfare. Li the vicinity of the New Union 
Station, also far west of what has up to recent 
years been regarded as out of the way of busi- 
ness and travel, two and probably three very 
fine hotels are about to be erected, sites having 
been obtained for that purpose. When they are 
added to the present hotel equipment of the city, 
St. Louis will be able to handle a convention 
crowd of almost any magnitude without the 
necessity of special bureaus for the placing of 
guests in boarding-houses and private residences. 
St. Louis is not a litigious 
cit)-, and arbitration for the 



BENCH AND BAR 
OF ST. LOUIS. 



settlement of commercial dis- 
putes has always been very popular. There are, 
howe\-er, in the city a large number of lawyers 
and attorneys who find sufficient employment 
to yield them good incomes and who display 
marked ability in the exercise of their profes- 
sion. Tlie bar of vSt. Louis to-day knows no 
superior in the West, and among the gentlemen 
practicing law there are several whose fame ex- 
tends to distant points. In the early history of 
vSt. Louis the laws of England, France and Spain 
were all partly enforced, and there were many 
complex questions in regard to titles which 
called for the exercise of the greatest possible 
care and ingenuity. Those days have passed 
now, and the business falling into the hands of 
the attorneys of the city is of an entirely differ- 
ent nature. On the bench there are to be found 
many lawyers of exceptional experience, and 
manv decisions have been made here which 



SOCIAL ADl-ANTAGES. 



129 



have been recognized as irreproachable law. 
Quite recently the city gave to the nation for a 
cabinet office one of its prominent attorneys; 
and other members of the St. Louis bar have 
distinguished themselves in various parts of the 
country. In another part of this work there 
will be found records of the careers of some of 
the most prominent members of the St. Louis 
bar, including sketches of some of the judges 
whose ability and integrity has made them more 
than fanicus. 

The Bar Association of St. Louis was estab- 
lished in 1874. Col. ThomasT.Gantt was tempo, 
rary chairman of the meeting called to "consider 
the propriety and feasibility of forming a bar 
association in the city of St. Louis." A com- 
mittee of five was appointed, consisting of 
Alexander Martin, Henry Hitchcock, R. E. 
Rombauer, George M. Stewart and Gi\'en Camp- 
bell. The first president was Mr. John R. Shep- 
lev, who in his first address emphasized the fact 
that the object of the association was to " main- 
tain the honor and dignity of the profession of 
law, to cultivate social intercourse among its 
members, and for the promotion of legal science 
and the administration of justice." It would be 
difficult to overrate the good influence of this 
association, or its effect on the tone of the bar 
and its members. 

St. Louis is such a healthy 
citv that it is anything but a doc- 
tor's paradise, and the number 
of physicians in the city is not large, when the 
population is taken into account. Among the 
physicians who have made their home in St. 
Louis, there are several whose reputation ex- 
tends beyond the confines of Missouri and Illi- 
nois, and even beyond the boundaries of the 
United States. Some of our surgeons are requi- 
sitioned from very distant points, when excep- 
tionally complicated cases call for exceptional 
skill; and the city has also specialists who rank 
so high in the medical world that they are smn- 
moned for consultation to cities 1,000 miles dis- 
tant. It would be interesting to trace the early 
history of medicine in the city, but it must suf- 
fice to say that at the present time nothing is 



DOCTORS OF 
MEDICINE. 



NEWSPAPERS 

OF 

NATIONAL INFLUENCE. 



needed in this respect, and that all that science 
and skill can do to ameliorate suffering and to 
prolong life can be and is done in St. L,ouis. 
The medical press is well represented, and the 
medical journal which has the largest circulation 
in the world is published from this city. 

Almost every known school of medicine is 
represented, not only by practitioners, but also 
by medical colleges. The number of these latter 
is very large, and the work they do in educating 
and preparing young men for the profession is 
influential for much good. There are several 
hospitals in the city, some of them connected 
with religious and other bodies, and others which 
are entirely independent and catholic in their 
work. It is to be regretted that the exigencies 
of space prevent a detailed description of the 
hospitals and medical colleges, but such would 
require an entire volume to even do the subject 
partial justice. 

The newspapers of 
St. Louis speak for 
themselves, two, at least, 
of them having national 
influence and importance. Following the plan 
generally adopted in this book, the early history 
of the newspapers will be but very briefly men- 
tioned. The Globe- Democrat is probably the 
best newspaper in the United States west of 
New York, and it is certainly by far the best 
newspaper in the country west of New York and 
south of Chicago. It is the survival of the 
Globe and the Democrat^ which papers were 
consolidated in 187.5. Two years ago the Globe- 
Democrat moved into the magnificent building 
on the corner of Sixth and Pine streets, which 
it erected for its own home. The building is a 
model newspaper office in almost every respect, 
and it has few equals and still fewer superiors in 
the United States. The policy of the Globe- 
Democrat politically is Republican, but national 
affairs are looked upon in a very liberal manner, 
and measures, rather than parties, are analyzed 
and discussed from a critical standpoint. Mr. 
Joseph B. McCullagh is the editor-in-chief of 
this great newspaper, which, during the eight- 
een years which have elapsed since its publica- 



ibO 



OLD AND N1-:\V ST. LOUIS. 



tion under ils present name, has been edited 
daily under his personal supervision, the aggre- 
gate number of days of his absence from the 
ofTice during that period being about equal to 
the time occupied by the summer vacation of 
the ordinary professional or business man. The 
Globe- Democrat is conspicuous for the absence 
of trumpet-blowing of its own achievements, 
and when it moved into the "Temple of Truth," 
the only announcement made in its columns of 
its change of location was included in the single 
sentence: ' ' We have moved. ' ' 

The early history of the St. Louis Rcpiif)/ic 
has already been given in these columns. It is 
now one of the most influential Democratic 
newspapers in the United States, and although 
old in years and experience, it is still young in 
enterprise and vigor. In addition to an excel- 
lent telegraphic and news service from outside 
the city, it makes a specialty of local news, 
which it covers with great accuracy and judg- 
ment. Since it changed its name and reorgan- 
ized, its circulation has increased with great 
rapidity, and the growth of its influence has 
been quite on a par with its financial boom. 

There are three evening newspapers in St. 
Louis published in the English language — the 
Post-Bispatc/iy the Star- Sayings and the C/iron- 
icle. The Post-Dispatch is the largest of these, 
and it publishes a Sunday issue which is really 
a magazine and compendium of current litera- 
ture in addition to a first-class newspaper. It 
is edited by Mr. Florence White, and both the 
daily and Sunday issues are bright exponents of 
the New St. Louis idea. 

The Star-Sayiugs is edited by Mr. John 
Manner, an able and conscientious journalist, 
who has succeeded in largely increasing the in- 
fluence and importance of the paper. The Star- 



Sayings is enjoying a great renewal of ])rosperit'. . 
and makes itself heard on all questions of ini 
porta uce. 

The C/iro/iictc is the only one-cent daily 
paper in the city. Its editor, General Hawkins, 
has completely remodeled and rejuvenated the 
paper, which is popular in the extreme, and 
which claims to ha\'e a larger local sale than 
any other paper published. 

The German papers are almost as prominent 
as those printed in English. The Westliclie 
Post and the Aiizeigrr dcs JJ^cstats are quoted 
as authorities in all parts of the United States; 
and the Aiiicrilca^ Tribune and Tagcblatt have 
each their own field to fulfill in a satisfactory 
manner. 

The magazine press of St. Louis is less con- 
spicuous than the daily, and although there are 
several publications, there are none of s\ifficient 
national repute to make a detailed reference to 
them necessary. 

The immense size of the Sunday newspapers 
and the large amount of space devoted to liter- 
ary and scientific questions, has made it difficult 
to establish weekly papers on a paving basis in 
St. Louis. For many years the Spectator pros- 
pered and contributed to local literature a great 
deal of valuable and interesting matter. Its 
long career has, however, terminated, and the 
Sunday Mirror is now* practically in exclusive 
control of the weekly press. The Afirror 
differs in its make-up and character from any 
other western publication. It knows neither 
friend nor foe in its columns, and is original and 
fearless in its st)le and policy, supplying, in 
a wav never filled before, a field which ought 
not to be overlooked in a city of t)00,000 in- 
habitants. 



•Decemlier, 1S93. 



^m^im m^^^^^^^^msm^m mm^ 



